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THE 


<' 

i 

PORTFOLIO 


OF 

•RIGINS AND INVENTIONS; 


BEING 

3n Ctninologiral (fompcnimm, 


RELATING TO 


'UAGE, LITERATURE, AND 
GOVERNMENT; 

IHITECPURE AND SCULPTURE; 
AMA, MUSIC, PAINTING, AND 
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES; 
PICLES OF DRESS, &c.; 

:LES, DIGNITIES, &c.; 


NAMES, TRADES, PROFESSIONS; 
PARLIAMENT, LAWS, &c. 
UNIVERSITIES AND RELIGIOUS 
SECTS; 

EPITHETS AND PHRASES; 
REMARKABLE CUSTOMS; 

GAMES, FIELD SPORTS; 


SEASONS, MONTHS, AND DAYS OF THE WEEK ; 
REMARKABLE LOCALITIES, See. See. 


BY WILLIAM PULLEYN. 

t * 


REVISED AND IMPROVED, 

BY MERTON A. THOMS. 


✓ 


LONDON: 


WILLIA M T EGG. 


1801. 




/ 

If 













\ 


-/ 

V 


< 








LONDON: PRINTED EY W. CLOW ES AND SONS, STAMTORD STREET 





INTKODUCTION. 


I* 

1 


To collect into a focus a series of Origins and Etymologies that 
lay scattered through various publications, ancient and modern,— 
to place within the reach of all what hitherto could only be pro¬ 
cured by the few ,■—to instruct the rising generation,—to amuse 
the curious of all ages,—and to save trouble to the antiquary, 
a mass of interesting and instructive matter has been concen- 
trated within the small compass of this volume ; and which the 
Compiler unhesitatingly submits to the public, with the convic¬ 
tion, that should it be found below their praise, it will, never¬ 
theless, remain undeserving of their censure. 








VI 


PREFACE. 


I 


In my endeavours to give the work this improved character, I 
have been greatly assisted by my Father, Mr. William J. Thoms, 
and by Mr. Yeowell ; and among the most pleasant parts of 
my task is making this public acknowledgment of their kind 
and valuable assistance. 

MERTON A. THOMS. 

Pi 


25, Holywell Street, Millbaxk, 
1853. 




TABLE OE CONTENTS. 





Page 



Page 

Abchurch Lane 

• • • 

• • • 

299 

Anatomy, Law of 

• • • 

414 

Ablutions of the Romans on the 

Anchors ... 


59 

first of April ... 


• • • 

205 

Andrew (Saint) Hubbard 

• • • 

294 

Abyssinia 

• • • 

• • • 

320 

Andrew (Saint, Order of) 

• • • 

150 

Acantha... 

• • • 

... 

239 

Andrew (Saint) Undershaft 

• • • 

299 

Actors, making a trade of their 


Andrew (Saint) Wardrobe 

• • • 

294 

profession 

• • • 

• • • 

90 

Angel 

• • • 

418 

Actress, First English... 

• • c 

92 

Another for Hector 

• • • 

381 

Acts of Parliament 

• •• 

• • • 

123 

Anthony Pig 

... 

364 

Addle Street 

• • • 

• • • 

299 

Apothecary . 

• • • 

263 

Adelphi . 

• • • 

• •• 

299 

April . 

• • • 

218 

Adermanbury ... 

• •• 

... 

299 

April Fool 

... 

372 

Adieu . 

... 

. . . 

417 

Apron 

• • • 

418 

Admirable Crichton 


• • • 

376 

Arab 

• • • 

418 

Admiral... 

... 

• • • 

138 

Archery. 

• • • 

167 

Adore 

• • • 

• • • 

417 

Arches Court . 

• • • 

127 

Affirmation of the Quakers 

• • • 

123 

Architecture 

... 

19 

Agriculture, its progress 

• • • 

234 

Architecture, Five Orders of ... 

20 

Air Balloons 

• • • 

• • • 

64 

Arithmetical Figures ... 

... 

51 

Alban’s (St.) Family 

• • • 

• • • 

159 

Army, English standing 

... 

120 

Alderman 


• • • 

146 

Arrow-Root . 

... 

244 

Aldermanbury 


• • • 

299 

Artichoke . 

• •• 

418 

Aldersgate Street 

• • • 

• • • 

299 

Arundel ... 

• • • 

329 

Aldersgate Ward 

• • • 

• • • 

288 

Arundelian Tables, Oxford 

... 

101 

Aldgate Ward ... 


• • • 

287 

Ascension Day, Perambulating 


Ale 

ii-iC • • • • • • 


• • • 

248 

Parishes on ... 

• • • 

193 

Alehouse Licences 


• • • 

123 

Ash Wednesday 

• • • 

234 

Algebra . 


• • • 

51 

Ass ... ... ... 

• • • 

362 

Algernon 


• • • 

157 

Assassin... 

• • • 

362 

Alkali 


• • • 

417 

Asses, Feast of .... 

• • • 

197 

All Hallows Barking 


• • • 

294 

Astley’s Prize Wherry 

• • • 

209 

All Hallows Staining 


• • • 

294 

Athens ... 

• • • 

328 

All Saints’ Day... 


• • • 

225 

Atlantic Ocean. 

• • • 

328 

All Souls 


... 

226 

Attorney 

• • • 

262 

All the Russias ... 

• • • 

• • • 

329 

Auctions... 

... 

123 

Alligator 


« • 

418 

Augean Stable ... 

• • • 

415 

Allodial. 

• • • 

• • • 

417 

August ... 

• • • 

220 

Almanacs 

• • • 

• • • 

48 

“ Auld Robin Gray” ... 

... 

96 

Alnwick, Freedom of 


• • • 

189 

Authors ... 

• • • 

19 

Alphabet 


• • • 

7 

Azores, or Western Islands 

• • • 

328 

Alphage (Saint) 


• .. 

295 




Alum 


• • • 

73 

Bachelor 

• • • 

419 

Amazon ... 

• • • 

• # • 

417 

Backgammon ... 

• . . 

167 

Ambassador 

• • • 

• • • 

142 

Bag of Nails . 

... 

273 

Amen Corner ... 

• • • 

• * • 

300 

Bailiff 

• •• 

363 

America ... 

• • • 

• • • 

328 

Bakewell, or Blackwell Hall 

• • • 

285 

American War ... 

• • • 

• • • 

130 

Balliol College 

• • • 

98 

Anatomical Wax Figures 

• • • 

414 

Balloons . 

... 

64 










X 


CONTENTS. 



Coleman Street Ward 

Collar of S. S. 

Colombia 

Commerce, origin of . 
Common Pleas .. 

Commons, House of . 
Compass, Mariner’s 
Concerts 
Conduit Street. . 

Confining Juries from Meat am 

Drink. 

Confirmation 
Congreve Rockets 
Constantinople 
Constellation ... 

Coram Street ... 

Cordwainer 
Cordvvainers’ Ward 
Cornfactors 

Cornhill. 

Cornwall, Duke of 
Coronations in England, orig 
of, with an account of thei 

Customs . 

Corporations 

Corps . 

Corpus Christi College 

Corsica. 

Cossack. 

Costermonger. 

Cottonian Library 


Clergy, Charity for the relief of 

Tage 

Counsellors’ Fees 

• • • 

Page 

213 

Poor Widows and Sons of 


Courting on Saturday Nig 

ht... 

214 

the ... ... ... 

• • • 

326 

Court of Chancery 

... 

126 

Clerkenwell . 

... 

301 

Covent Garden ... 

... 

306 

Clifford’s Inn . 

• • • 

292 

Coventry Street 

... 

303 

Cloacina 

... 

421 

Coward ... 

... 

372 

Clocks, Electrical 

. . . 

70 

Cowslip. 

... 

239 

Clocks, Watches, &c. ... 

... 

70 

Coxcomb 


92 

Coach ... ... ... 

... 

422 

Cranbourne Alley 

... 

303 

Coaches ... 

... 

258 

Craniology 


411 

Coaches, Sailing 

... 

62 

Crescent as a symbol ... 


154 

Coal Harbour Lane 

... 

305 

Crests ... ... ... 

... 

134 

Coal Hole Tavern 

... 

276 

Crighton, (Admirable) 

... 

376 

Coal, origin of 

• • • 

81 

Cripplegate 

... 

304 

Coals in London 

... 

82 

Cripplegate Ward 

Crispin’s Day ... 

... 

288 

Cobblers of Flanders, 

Arms 


... 

231 

of the ... 

• • • 

204 

Critic 

... 

422 

Cock and Bull story ... 

• • • 

395 

Crocus ... 

... 

239 

Cockfighting 

• •• 

174 

Crosby Square ... 

... 

306 

Coffee and Coffee-houses 


251 

Cross and Pile, or Head and Tail 

177 

Coin ... ... ... 

... 

48 

Cross ^ as a mark 


117 

Coin Factors . 

. . . 

267 

Cross Buns 

... 

182 

Coin ofDort 

• • • 

203 

Cross, invention of the 

... 

231 

Coins of Edward YI. ... 

• • • 

49 

Crown pieces ... 

Crowns, origin and history 

... 

49 

Coldstream Guards 


422 

of 

151 

Coleman Street 


304 

Crutched Friars 

... 

303 


290 

151 

333 

45 

12G 

110 

66 

41 

303 

113 

179 

68 

333 

423 

303 

265 

290 

267 

303 

146 


153 

115 

423 

99 

333 

422 

265 

101 


Currants • 

Curse of Scotland 
Curtain Road ... 

Curtain theatre . 

Cutpurse . 

Cygnet. 

Daisy 

Damask Rose. 

Damask Weaving . 

Dancing... 

Dauphin of France . 

Davis’ Straits . 

Days of Week. 

Dead Sea . 

Death Watch. 

December . 

De Courcy Privilege. 

Dedication to Books ... 

Defensor Fidei. 

Delf, or Delft . 

Denis (Saint) Patron Saint of 

France . 

Dennet. 

Dentist. 

Deodand . 

Devonshire Square . 

Diamond cut Diamond 

Diamonds . 

Dieu et mon Droit . 

Dignities and Titles. 


236 

378 

307 

87 

362 

423 













CONTENTS. - 


xi 


Page 



Page 

Dining with Dnke Humphrey 

380 

English Language 

• • • 

2 

Dinners, original ... !.. 

190 

English Language in Courts of 


Dionis (Saint) Back Church ... 

297 

Law, and Legislative pro- 


Diorama. 

64 

ceedings . 

... 

122 

Dissection . 

410 

Engraving, origin and progress 


Divorces. 

217 

of ••• ••• ••• 

... 

32 

Doctors Commons . 

127 

Epithets. 

• • • 

361 

Dog and Duck Tavern 

276 

Epochs and Eras 

• • • 

414 

Dog-days . 

229 

Epping Hunt . 

• • • 

196 

Doggett’s Coat and Badge ... 

209 

Escurial of Spain 

• • • 

336 

Dogs . 

171 

Esculapius, Sons of 

• • • 

416 

Domesday Book . 

15 

Esquire. 

• • • 

138 

Domestic Telegraph. 

60 

Eton Montem. 

• • • 

201 

Dominant, origin of in music... 

40 

Etruscan Vases ... 

• • • 

29 

Dort, Coin of.„ 

203 

Europe. 

• • • 

335 

Dowgate Ward . 

289 

Evergreens and Mistletoe 

at 


Downs. 

334 

Christmas 

• • • 

179 

D’Oyleys. 

261 

Exchequer Bills 

... 

124 

Drama in England, its rise ... 

86 

Exchequer Court 

... 

126 

Dramatic Censorship. 

89 

Excise Duty . 

... 

120 

Drawing for King and Queen 

184 

Exeter Change... 

• • • 

307 

Drinking healths . 

180 

Exeter College. 

• « » 

98 

Druid . 

424 

Exeter Hall, Strand ... 


308 

Drunk as David’s Sow 

397 




Drury Lane 

307 

Fairs, origin of. 

... 

206 

Dryden’s celebrated Ode 

95 

Families, noble, origin of 

... 

160 

Duchy of Lancaster Court ... 

128 

Fandango . 

. . . 

169 

Duck and Drake . 

176 

Fans. 

... 

257 

Duelling 

177 

Farringdon Wards 

• • • 

288 

Duke . 

136 

February 

... 

218 

Duke’s Place . 

307 

Fenchurch Street 

• • • 

309 

Dulwich College . 

101 

Fetter Lane 

• • • 

308 

Dun, demanding payment 

363 

Feudal Laws 

... 

115 

Durham, Palatinate of 

344 

Figures in Arithmetic 

... 

51 



Filberts. 

... 

236 

1* 1 ar 1 ... ... ... ... 

137 

Finsbury Square 

... 

308 

Earl Marshal 

137 

Finis . 

. . . 

425 

Earthenware and Porcelain, 


Fish and Ring, Stepney Church- 


origin of 

26 

yard 

• • • 

185 

East-Cheap 

307 

Fishing with Nets in England 

67 

Easter ... 

202 

Fish Street Hill... 

... 

309 

East India Company. 

55 

Fitz-Roy... 

• • • 

156 

Eastward Hoe. 

97 

Fives and Fives’ Courts 

.. . 

168 

Echo 

424 

Flamstead House 

• • • 

336 

Edge Tools, manufacture of ... 

55 

Flannel Shirts ... 

• • • 

255 

Edinburgh . 

335 

Fleet Street . 

• • • 

309 

Edmund’s Bury... 

335 

Fleur-de-Lis on the Mariner’s 


Edward VI., Coins of ... 

49 

Compass 

... 

66 

Election Ribbons 

193 

Fludyer Street. 

... 

308 

Electrical Clocks 

70 

Flying Horse 

... 

272 

Electricity 

81 

Forest and Game Laws 

... 

115 

Electric Printing Telegraph ... 

60 

Forks 

... 

57 

Electric Telegraphs . 

59 

Fools 

... 

93 

Ember Week. 

229 

Foster Lane 

... 

308 

Emperor . 

140 

Foot-ball 

... 

175 

England 

334 

Fore Street 

... 

309 

England and St George 

388 

Foundling Hospital 

... 

286 



















CONTENTS. 


• • 
Xll 


Fountains 


Page 

09 

Goose on Michaelmas Day 


Page 

191 

France, War with 

• • • 

129 

Gordian Knot ... 

• • • 

415 

Franking Letters 

• • • 

131 

Government and Society, ori- 


Freedom of Alnwick ... 

• • • 

189 

gin of 

... 

4 

French Revolutionary Calendar 

221 

Gowk and Cuckoo 

... 

370 

Fret-work, derivation of the 


Grace at Meat . . 

... 

191 

term in Architecture 


25 

Gracechurch Street 

... 

310 

Friendly Islands 


336 

Grampian Hills 

... 

336 

Fruits, Native. 


235 

Grapes. 

• • « 

238 

Fruits in England 


237 

Grasshopper, Royal Exchan 

ge 

284 

Furnival’s Inn. 


292 

Grave Morris ... 

... 

272 

Galvanism 


79 

Gray’s Inn 

Great Wardrobe Street 

... 

291 

310 

Galway (Tribes of) 


378 

Green Cloth, Board of 

• . • 

128 

Game Laws 


115 

Green Park . 

... 

310 

Gaming . 


173 

Greenwich 

... 

337 

Gammon of Bacon at Easter 


190 

Grenadier 

... 

426 

Gardening, Ornamental, 

in 


Gresham College 

... 

284 

England 


238 

Grey Hair 

... 

413 

Garlic Hill 


311 

Grinning like a Cheshire Cat 

396 

Garrick’s first Playbill 


91 

Grocer 

... 

264 

Garter, Order of the ... 


150 

Grog . 

... 

250 

Gas . 


80 

Guildhall . 

... 

125 

Gazette 


420 

Guinea ... 

. • • 

426 

Geho! 


420 

Guineas, when first coined 

... 

49 

Gentleman 


425 

Gule of August 


230 

George (St.) as Patron Saint 

of 


Guillotine 


68 

England 


135 

Gunpowder . 

... 

67 

George’s (St.) Fields ... 


327 

Gunpowder Plot 

... 

118 

Gerard’s Hall . 


285 

Gutta Perclia ... 


77 

Gerard Street. 


310 

Guy’s Head . 

Guy’s Hospital 


274 

Germany 


337 

... 

286 

Giltspur Street 

n ... ... ... 


310 

250 

Haberdashers . 


269 

Gins 


420 

Hackney 

... 

312 

Gipsy . 


420 

Hackney Coaches 

... 

259 

Give him a Bone to pick 


399 

Hag-bush Lane 


337 

Give us a Toast 


397 

Haggis ... 


427 

Giving Quarter 


188 

Hair-powder 


257 

Giving the Lie. 


178 

Hammer-cloth. 


262 

Glass, origin of making 


27 

Hammock 


428 

Glass Windows 


28 

Hand-festing ... 


181 

Globe Theatre. 


88 

Hang on Jerry ... 


384 

Gloves ... 


254 

Harlequin 


93 

Goat and Compasses ... 


273 

Harmony Settlement, North 

God bless you, to the Sneezer 

380 

America 


339 

God save the King 


94 

Harvest Moon. 


415 

Goes of Liquor 


198 

Hastings 


338 

Gold Coin in England, origin 

of 

49 

Hat and Tun . 


272 

Golden Age 


414 

Hats and Caps. 


256 

Golden Fleece ... 


278 

Hatton Garden 


311 

Golden Square. 

Goldsmiths’ Year Marks 


310 

Haversack . 


427 


268 

Hawking 


171 

Goodman’s Fields 


309 

Healths, on drinking ... 


J- 1 J- 

180 

Good old Times 


378 

Hearses 


216 

Good Wine needs no Bush 


379 

Hector’s Cloak ... 


382 

Goodwin Sands 


336 

Hellespont . 

... 

339 















CONTENTS. 


Xlll 





Page 


Page 

He is gone to Pot 

• • • 

• • • 

300 

Interest on Money . 

50 

He may pay too Dear for bis 


Interments and Churchyards 

216 

liistle 

• • • 

• • • 

385 

Internal Navigation in England 

52 

Heraldry 

• • • 

• • • 

132 

I Pledge you 

382 

Hei’alds 

• •• 

• • • 

133 

Irish Society of the Corporation 


Heralds’ College 

V * 

• • • 

133 

of London 

324 

Hermaphrodite 


• • • 

428 

Iron first discovered . 

56 

Herne’s Oak 

• • • 

• • • 

338 

Isle of Dogs . 

312 

Hicks’ Hall 

• • • 

• • • 

285 

Isle of Man . 

340 

Highbury Barn 

• • • 

• • • 

337 

Islington . 

312 

Hindostan 

• • • 

• • « 

339 

Italian Opera ... 

43 

Hoaxing... 

• • • 

• • • 

197 

It is a dirty Bird that befouls its 


Hob and Nob ••• 

• • • 

• • • 

428 

own Nest ... . 

385 

Hob-nails, Counting of 

• • • 

197 

It’s an ill Wind that blows no 


Hobson’s Choice 

• • • 

• • • 

379 

one any Good 

390 

Hock . 

• • • 

• • • 

250 

Ivory (Vegetable) . 

245 

Hocus-pocus 

• • • 

• • • 

427 



Holborn ... 

• • • 

• • • 

311 

Jack Ketch 

368 

Holland’s (Lady) Mob 

• • • 

• • • 

207 

Jack of Newbury 

378 

Holly 

• • • 

• • • 

242 

James’s (St.) Palace . 

322 

Hollyhock 

• • • 

• • • 

241 

James’s (St.) Park . 

320 

Holy Alliance ... 

... 

• • • 

119 

Janizary 

429 

Holy Island 

• • • 

• • • 

338 

January ... 

218 

Holyrood House 

• • • 

• • • 

339 

Jennies, spinning 

64 

Holywell Street 

• • • 

• • • 

311 

Jesuits ... ... ... ... 

102 

Honesty ... 

• • • 

• • • 

427 

Jewin Street . 

312 

Honeymoon 

• • • 

• • • 

178 

Joan, Pope 

166 

Honour ... 

• • • 

• • • 

427 

Jonathan 

367 

Hook or by Crook 

• • • 

• • • 

379 

John Audley 

375 

Hoop, game of the 

• • • 

• • • 

175 

John Doe and llichard Roe ... 

374 

Hopping 

• • • 

• • • 

176 

John of Gaunt ... 

158 

Hops . 

... 

• • • 

248 

John o’Groat’s House ... 

273 

Horatii and Curiatii 

... 

• • • 

141 

John’s (St.) Gate 

320 

Horn Fair 

• • • 

• • • 

207 

John (St.) the Evangelist’s Day 

226 

Horse Power 

• • • 

• • • 

63 

Journeyman 

371 

Horsleydown 

• • • 

• • • 

312 

Judges’ Bouquets 

217 

Horoscope 

• • • 

• • • 

61 

Julian, the Apostate. 

148 

Host 

• • • 

• • • 

427 

J uly ... ... ... ... 

219 

Houndsditch 

• ■ • 

• • • 

311 

June 

219 

House Leek 

• • • 

• • • 

409 

Juries, Exemption of Surgeons 


House of Commons 

... 

• • • 

110 

and Butchers from serving on 

113 

Howling 1 at Irish Funerals 

• • • 

191 

Jurors, confining from meat 


Humbug 

... 

• • • 

391 

and drink 

113 

Hummums 


• • • 

271 

Jury, Trial by. 

112 

Hunsrerford Stairs Market 


311 

Justice ... ... ... ... 

429 

Hurly-burly 

• • • 

• • • 

429 

Juvenile Amusements, Origin 


Husting. 

• • • 

• • • 

428 

and Antiquity of various ... 

175 

Huxter. 

• • • 

• • • 

266 



Hyde Park 

... 

• • • 

311 

Kaleidoscope ... 

65 





Katherine’s, St. Collegiate Col¬ 


Ich Dien, “ I Serve” 



145 

lege of. 

293 

I’ll set you down in mv Black 


Katherine (St.) Cree ... 

297 

Book ... 

• • • 

• • • 

399 

Keel ... ... ... ... 

430 

Innocents’ Day ... 

• • • 

• • • 

228 

I\ ent ... ... ... ... 

340 

Inns of Court ... 

• • • 

• • • 

290 

King 

136 

Inquisition 

• • • 

• • • 

109 

King and Queen, drawing for 

184 

Insurance on Ships 

• • • 

... 

51 

Kings and Queens of England 

444 













XIV 


CONTENTS. 


King’s Bench. 

Page 

12G 

Liver Complaints in India 

• • • 

Page 

413 

King of the Romans ... 

141 

Liveries ... 

• • • 

255 

King’s College, London 

King’s Cock-crower . 

100 

Liverymen . 

• • • 

431 

148 

Lloyds’ Coffee-house ... 

• • • 

284 

King’s Speech ... 

111 

Lollard. 

• • • 

105 

Kingston 

340 

Lombard Street 

• • • 

314 

Kissing the Pope’s Foot 

182 

London . 

• • • 

278 

Klocke, i. e., Clock, or Bell ... 

430 

London Arms ... 

• • • 

205 

Knighthood 

148 

London Bridge... 

• • • 

279 

Knights Hospitallers. 

149 

London Cries. 

• • • 

189 

Knight-rider Street 

313 

London Wall ... 

• • • 

313 

Knights Templars . 

149 

Long Acre 

• • • 

313 

Knives ... ... .. ... 

57 

Lord Mayor 

»«♦ 

147 

Labour and Money in early 


Lord Mayor of London, pre¬ 
sented to the Chancellor ... 

197 

times 

50 

Lord Mayor’s Day 

• • • 

188 

Lack-a-Daisy ... 

430 

Lord Mayor’s Show 

• • • 

188 

Lac of Rupees ... 

52 

Lord Warden of the Cinque 


Ladies appearing at Court ... 

191 

Ports ... 

• • • 

148 

Lady ... ... ... ... 

430 

Loriner. 

• • • 

271 

Lady Day 

226 

Lothbury 

• •• 

314 

Lady in the Straw "... , ... 

398 

Lotteries 

• • • 

130 

Lambeth 

314 

Low Sunday 

• • • 

231 

Lamb’s Conduit Street... 

313 

Ludgate Street... 

• • • 

313 

Lamb’s Wool . 

431 

Lullaby ... 

• • • 

432 

Lammas Day 

228 

Lunatic. 

• • • 

366 

Lamp Black 

79 

Luncheon 

• • • 

432 

Lancasterian System of Educa- 
tio n ... ... ... ... 

108 

Magellan, Straits of ... 

• • • 

351 

Land Tax in England ... 

121 

Magna Charta. 

• • • 

111 

Langbourne Ward 

289 

Mahometan 


105 

Language, English 

2 

Mahogany, its use in England 

260 

Language, origin of ... 
Lanthorns 

1 

Maidstone 

• • • 

342 

64 

Mail Coaches ... 

• • • 

117 

Lark-hall Tavern 

278 

Mameluke 

... 

432 

Lass of Richmond Hill 

96 

Man 


433 

Lawns, Cambrics, Starching... 

74 

Man of Straw ... 

... 

365 

Law of Shipwreck 

198 

Mantua-maker ... 

• • • 

265 

Lawrence Poultney Lane 

314 

Maps and Sea Charts ... 

• • • 

77 

Law Sunday 

231 

Marbles. 

... 

176 

Lawyers’ Patron 

394 

March .. 

• • • 

218 

Leadenhall Street 

313 

Margaret, (St.) Pattens 


297 

Leeds, Duke of... 

159 

Mariner’s Compass 

... 

66 

Libraries, Circulating... 

9 

Mark Lane 

... 

315 

Library . 

431 

Marquis ... 

... 

137 

Lie, giving the. 

178 

Marriage by Proxy 

• • • 

187 

Light-houses . 

80 

Marseilles 


341 

Lily ... ... ... ... 

241 

Marshalsea Court 


127 

Limehouse 

314 

Martel, Charles 


158 

Lime Street Ward . 

290 

Martin’s (St.) Little Summer 


225 

Lincoln College . 

99 

Martin (St.) Or gar 

Martin’s (St.) Outwich... 


296 

Lincoln’s Inn . 

291 


297 

Lion Sermon 

199 

Mary-le-bone ... 


315 

Lion’s Head Fountains 

69 

Mary (St.) Aldermary . ; . 

• • • 

297 

Literary Degrees, origin of ... 

416 

Mary (St.) at Hill 


298 

Literati ... 

431 

Mary (St.) Axe. 


315 

Little Britain. 

313 

Mary (St.) Bothaw 

• • • 

298 







CONTENTS. 


XV 




Page 


Page 

Mary (St.) Cole Church 

• • • 

298 

Money, origin of Use of 

45 

Mary (St.) Le Bow 

• • • 

293 

Monkwell Street 

314 

Mary (St.) Matfellon ... 

• • • 

295 

Monmouth Street . 

314 

Mary (St.) Mounthaunt 

• •• 

298 

Month. 

218 

Mary (St.) Overie 

.. . 

296 

Montmartre . 

341 

Mary (St.) Somerset ... 

• • • 

298 

Moorfields . 

315 

Mary (St.) Woolnooth... 

• • • 

293 

Moravians . 

106 

Masquerades . 

• •• 

190 

Morris Dance. 

167 

Massachusetts ... 

• • • 

341 

Most Christian King .. 

143 

Matrimony 

• • • 

432 

Mourning ... . 

215 

Maundy Thursday 

• • • 

226 

Munchausen (Baron). 

376 

Mauritius . 

• • • 

341 

Marseilles . 

341 

Mausoleum 

• • • 

432 

Mushroom . 

433 

May 

• • 

218 

Music . 

39 

May Day . 

• • • 

222 

Music, Letters in 

40 

May Fair 

• • • 

208 

Music, origin of dividing into 


May-poles 

• • • 

200 

Bars ... ... ... ... 

40 

Maze Pond, Southwark 

• • • 

315 

Music, origin of the Dominant 

40 

Meal Tub Plot ... 

• • • 

119 

My Lord . 

369 

Measures, liquid and dry 

• • • 

47 

Myrmidon . 

362 

Mediatised Princes 

• • • 

155 



Mediterranean ... 

• • • 

342 

Names, Literal Signification of 


Men Milliners ... 

• • • 

264 

the Principal Male and Fe¬ 


Men of Kent . 

... 

374 

male Christian 

161 

Mercers’ Company 

• . . 

270 

Names of Places or Persons ... 

357 

Merchant Tailors' Compan) 

... 

270 

Names, Roman 

156 

Mermaid 

, . . 

407 

Nantz, Edict of 

108 

Merryandrew ... 

• « • 

94 

Napoleon, origin of the name 

159 

Merryandrew ... 

• • • 

395 

Narcissus . 

239 

Merry as a Greek 

• • • 

395 

National Debt ... 

131 

Merry in the Hall when Beards 


Native Fruits in England 

235 

wag all 

• • • 

389 

Native Oysters . 

252 

Merry Wakefield 

• •• 

399 

Naval Salute to the English 


Merton College 

• •• 

98 

Flag. 

123 

Methodism 

. . . 

105 

Navigation, Internal,in England 

52 

Mews 

... 

316 

Needles. 

58 

Michaelmas Day,&c. ... 

. . . 

224 

Negus . . 

251 

Michael (St.) Bassishaw 

• • • 

298 

Nero Fiddled while Rome was 


Michael’s (St.) Querne 


299 

burning 

383 

Middlesex . 

• • • 

342 

Ne sutor ultra crepidam 

391 

Military Uniforms 

* • • 

255 

Never look a gift horse in the 


Milk Street . 

• • • 

315 

Mouth 

399 

Millbank 


316 

Newcastle Salmon 

252 

Milliner. 

• • • 

265 

Newgate 

316 

Milton’s Paradise Lost 

... 

10 

Newington Butts . 

316 

Mince Pies 

• • • 

184 

New River 

281 

Mind your P’s and Q’s... 

. . . 

397 

Newspapers . 

12 

Minories ... 

. . . 

314 

New-Year’s Gifts 

186 

Minster ... 

... 

433 

Nicene Creed ... 

107 

Mint, Borough ... 

... 

316 

Nickname 

433 

Mirrors ... 

., . 

256 

Nicolas (Saint) Cole Abbey ... 

293 

Miser 

, , . 

362 

Nicolas (Saint) Olaves 

295 

Missionary Societies ... 

• • . 

106 

Nightcaps . 

254 

Mistletoe, Use of, at Christmas 

179 

Nightly Watch 

196 

Money, interest on 

., . 

50 

Nine Tailors make a Man 

389 

Money, placed in the Mouths 


Noble Families, origin of Ya- 


of the Dead. 

• • • 

185 

110US ••• ••• ••• • •• 

160 









XVI 


CONTENTS. 


No Great Shakes 


Page 

400 

None Such House 

• • • 

276 

Northumberland . . 

• • • 

342 

Notation 

• • • 

40 

Not fit to hold a Candle to him 

389 

Nova Scotia Baronets 

... 

138 

November . 

... 

220 

October . 


220 

Old and New Style 

• • • 

122 

Old Bailey 

• • • 

317 

Old Jewry 

... 

317 

Old Rowley 

... 

375 

Old Sarum 

• • • 

348 

Olympian Games, derivation of 

177 

Omnibus 

• • • 

259 

Opera, Italian ... 

... 

43 

Oratorios 

• • • 

84 

Organs . 

• • • 

41 

Oriel College ... 

• • • 

98 

Original Dinners . . 

• • • 

190 

Ornamental Gardening in Eng¬ 
land 

238 

Osnaburg, Bishop of ... 

• • • 

146 

Ostler 

• • • 

265 

Ottoman Empire 

• • • 

343 

Outlawry 

• • • 

195 

Oxford ... 

... 

343 

O Yes! 0 Yes! 0 Yes! 

... 

388 

Pacific Ocean ... 


345 

Painter (Boat’s) 

... 

262 

Painting, the Schools of 

... 

34 

Painting, origin and progress of 

31 

Palatinate of Durham... 

... 

344 

Palestine 

... 

345 

Palladium 

... 

415 

Pall Mall . 

. . 

318 

Palm Sunday ... 

... 

232 

Pamphlets and Tracts, origin of 

8 

Pancakes . 

... 

184 

Pancake day 

... 

233 

Pancras (Saint) .. 

... 

295 

Panic . 

... 

434 

Panorama 

... 

64 

Pantaloon 

... 

94 

Pantaloons 


255 

Pantomime 

... 

93 

Paper 

... 

15 

Paradise Lost (Milton’s) 

... 

10 

Parapet Walls to Houses 

... 

25 

Parchment 

... 

77 

Paris Garden playhouse 

... 

88 

Parliament 


110 

Parliament, Acts of ... 

... 

123 

Parliamentary Speeches, 
porting of . 

Re- 

132 


Parnassian Spring . 

Parson ... 

Passing Bell 
Passion Flower 

Paternoster Row . 

Paul’s (St.) Cathedral, &c., ... 

Pauper ... 

Paving of London 
Pawnbrokers’ Balls 

Pay a Ship’s side . 

Peckham Fair ... 

Pedlar ... 

Pedlar’s Acre ... 

Peeping Tom of Coventry 
Peerdom 

Peerless Pool ... 

Peg too low, a. 

Pembroke College, Cambridge 
Pembroke College, Oxford ... 


Pennsylvania 
Penny Post 

Perambulating Parishe 
Ascension Day 

Percy . 

Pere la Chaise ... 
Perjury .. 

Persia 
Peter Pence 
Peter (Saint) ad Vincula 
Peter (Saint) Le Poor .. 
Petersburgh 
Petty France 
Philpot Lane 
Piano-fortes 
Piccadilly 

Pickett Street . 

Pic-nick . 


on 


Pie Poudre, Court of. 

Pin Money . 

Pins 

Plantagenet 

Playing Cards. 

Playhouses in London 

Plays, religious . 

Pledging in drinking 

Ploughing . 

Plough Monday. 

Poet Laureate. 

Poetry, origin of . 

Poland. 

Poltroon. 

Poor Laws and Poor Houses... 
Pope, alias Bishop of Rome ... 

Pope Joan . 

Pope’s Bull . 

Pope’s Foot, kissing the 
Pope’s Name, changing of the 


Page 

416 

4.34 

194 

241 

317 

292 

266 i 

279 

53 

392 

208 

266 

317 

377 

134 

344 
383 

99 

99 

343 

117 

193 

157 

343 

434 

343 

196 

294 

294 

343 

317 

318 
42 

318 

317 

434 

129 

186 

57 

156 

165 
87 
85 

382 

235 

227 

148 

10 

345 
366 
125 
141 

166 
13 

182 

108 


















CONTENTS. 


xvii 

I ; 

I Popish Plot . 


Page 



Page 

• • • 

118 

Red Sea ... 

• • • 

347 

: Poplar. 

• • • 

319 

Regent’s Park. 

• • • 

319 

Porcelain . 

• • • 

435 

Religious Plays 

• • • 

85 

Porcelain, origin of 

• • • 

26 

Rent 

• • • 

51 

Porter, or Carrier 

... 

266 

Reporting of Parliamentary 


Porter and Entire 


249 

Speeches . 

• • • 

132 

i i Portland Vase. 

• • • 

28 

Restaurateur 


267 

l Portpool Lane. 

• • • 

318 

Restoration Day 

• • • 

232 

1 Portsoken Ward 

• • • 

289 

Revolutionary Calendar 

• • • 

221 

Port Wine . 

• • • 

250 

Ribald ... 

• • • 

364 

1 i Post Offices . 

• • • 

117 

Ribston Pippin 

• • • 

236 

I Posts . 

• • • 

121 

Richmond . 

• • • 

347 

Potatoes. 

• • • 

242 

Riding Stang. 

• • • 

210 

Pot-waller . 

• • • 

435 

Riding the Black Lad 

• • • 

209 

1 Poultry. 

• • • 

318 

Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire 

• • • 

346 

1 Prerogative Court 

• • • 

127 

Rights and Lefts 

» • • 

254 

j Pressing for the Navy... 

• • • 

121 

Ringleader 

• • • 

436 

l Prince of Wales 

• • • 

136 

Roast Pig 

• • • 

211 

1 Principality of Chester 

• • • 

128 

Rob Peter to Pay Paul 

• • • 

400 

1 Printing 

• • • 

16 

Rogation Sunday 

• • • 

231 

Promethean Fire 

• • • 

414 

Roman Names ... 

• • • 

156 

Proof of the Pudding is in the 


Romans, King of the ... 

• • • 

141 

! Eating . 

• • • 

394 

Rome 

• • • 

347 

Property Tax. 

• • • 

121 

Rome, Public Theatres in 

• • • 

86 

{ Protestants . 

• • • 

104 

Rosary. 

• • • 

436 

Proxy, Marriage by 


187 

Rosemary 

• • • 

241 

Prussia . 

• • • 

343 

Roundhead 

• • • 

361 

; Prussian Blue ... 

• • • 

79 

Rowland for an Oliver 

• • • 

387 

Public-house Signs 

• • • 

271 

Royal Academy 


325 

Public Theatres in Rome 

• • • 

86 

Royal Exchange 

• • • 

282 

Punch 

• • • 

92 

Royal Society ... 

• • • 

326 

Punch liquor . 

• • • 

250 

Royal Titles 

• • • 

145 

Puritan ... 

• • • 

435 

Rule Britannia... 

• • • 

95 

Puta Beggar on Horseback and 


Rump Parliament 

• • • 

123 

he’ll ride to the Devil 

... 

396 

Rupees, Lac of... 


52 

Pye Corner . 

••• 

318 

Rye-house Plot 

... 

118 

Quakers ... 


106 

Sadler’s Wells 

• • • 

350 

Quakers, Affirmation of the 

... 

123 

Saffron Hill 

• • • 

320 

Quarter Day . 

... 

227 

Sailing Coaches 

• • • 

62 

Queenhithe Ward 

. . . 

287 

Saints, Translation of... 

• •• 

233 

Quoits ... 

• • • 

175 

Salads 

• • • 

242 



Salique Law in France 
Salters’ Hall 

• • • 

203 

Race ... ... ... 

• • • 

435 

• • • 

285 

Rackets, Game of 

• • • 

168 

Savings’ Bank ... 

• • • 

55 

Radcliffe Library 

• • • 

101 

Savoy 


321 

Radical ... ... ... 

Radishes 

... 

436 

244 

Saws . 

Sceptic ... 

... 

58 

438 

Raisins ... 

... 

237 

Sceptre ... 

• •• 

153 

Rape of Bramber 

... 

347 

Sclavonia 

• •• 

350 

Razors ... . 

... 

57 

Scotland (Curse of) 

• •• 

378 

Receipts, stamp duty on 

... 

117 

Scots Corporation 

... 

326 

Rathbone Place 

... 

339 

Sculpture, origin & progress 

of 

29 

Reculvers . 

... 

345 

Sea charts 

ft ft ft 

77 

Red and White Cross Streets 

319 

Secretary of State 

ft ft ft 

147 

Red Bull playhouse 

... 

87 

Sedan Chairs . 

ft ft ft 

260 

Red Herrings. 

... 

253 

See-saw. 

ft ft ft 

177 














XX 


CONTENTS. 


Wardrobe (Great) Street 

Wards. 

War, Ships of ... 

Warwick Lane 
Watches... 

Watchmen, origin of. 

Water Carriage 
Water Ordeal ... 

Water Pipes 

Watling Street ... ... ... 

Weald of Kent. 

W eaving 

Weaving Stockings 
Wedding Finger emblematical 
of matrimonial union 

W eek . 

Weeping Willows 
Weights and Measures in Eng¬ 
land, origin of 

Wellington, or Wellesley Fa¬ 
mily 

We’ll not carry Coals ... 

Welsh Leek as a Badge of 
Honour 
Westminster 

What’s the difference between 
a Horse Chestnut and a 

Chestnut Horse . 

When Rogues fall out Honest 
Men come by their own 
When the Steed’s stolen shut 

the Stable Door . 

Wli idler. 

Whigs and Tories . 


While the Grass grows the 
Steed starves 
Whipping of Apple-trees 
Whispering Gallery ... 

Whist, Game of 
White 

Whitechapel . 

Whoohe! . 

Wife . 

Wigs . 

Wilkes and Forty-five ... 

Wills 

Wilsonian Fund . 

Windfall 

Wine . 

Winnowing Machines 

Winter. 

Witch 

Witches and Witchcraft 
Women's Blacks 

Woodstock . 

Woollen Manufacture. 

Woolsacks in the House of 
Lords ... ... ... ... 

Writing, the art of . 

Yankee! . 

Yeoman. 

York . 

Yorkshire Bite. 

Your humble Servant. 

Zuider Sea . 


Page 

310 

287 

65 

324 

70 

196 

65 

409 

282 

324 

353 

75 

76 

186 

218 

241 

47 

160 

390 

192 

354 

381 

392 

384 

441 

373 











THE 


ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ORIGIN AND TROGRESS OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, ARCHITECTURE, 
TAINTING, SCULPTURE, MUSIC, ENGRAVING, 
GOVERNMENT, &c. 


ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE. 

If we suppose, says Blair, a period before any words were in¬ 
vented or known, it is clear that men could have no other method 
of communicating to others what they felt, than by the cries of 
passion, accompanied with such motions and gestures as were 
further expressive of passion; for these are the only signs which 
Nature teaches to all men, and which are understood by all. 

One who saw another going into a place where he himself had 
been frightened, or exposed to danger, and who sought to warn 
his neighbour of that danger, could contrive no other way of 
doing so, than by uttering those cries, and making those gestures, 
which are the signs of fear; just as two men at this day, would 
endeavour to make themselves understood by each other, who 
should be thrown together on a desolate island, ignorant of each 
other’s language. Those exclamations, therefore, which by gram¬ 
marians are called interjections , uttered in a strong and impas¬ 
sioned manner, were beyond doubt the first elements or beginning 
of speech. 

Interjections would be followed by names of objects, or nouns; 
these by names of actions, or verbs; these by qualities of nouns 
and actions, as adjectives and adverbs; and these would be suc¬ 
cessively followed by 'prepositions , pronouns , articles , and con¬ 
junctions. 

When more enlarged communication became necessary, and 
names began to be assigned to objects, in what manner can we 
suppose men to have proceeded in this assignation of names, or 
invention of words'? Undoubtedly, by imitating as much as 
they could the nature of the object which they named, by the 

B 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


2 

sound of the name which they gave to it. Whenever objects 
were to be named, in which sound, noise, or motion, were con¬ 
cerned, the imitation by words was abundantly obvious. Nothing 
was more natural than to imitate by the sound of the voice, the 
quality of the sound or noise which any external object made, 
and to form its name accordingly. Thus in all language we find 
a multitude of words that are evidently constructed upon this 
principle. A certain bird is termed a cuckoo , from the sound 
which it emits; when one sort of wind is said to whistle , and 
another to roar ; when a serpent is said to hiss, a fly to buzz , and 
falling timber to crash; when a stream is said to flow, and hail to 
rattle; the analogy between the word and the thing signified is 
plainly discernible. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 

The English language, or rather, the ancient language of 
Britain, says the Encyclopedist, or Circle of the Sciences, is gene¬ 
rally allowed to have been the same with the Gaulic, or French, 
(this island, in all probability, having been first peopled from 
Gallia,) as both Csesar and Tacitus affirm, and prove by many 
strong and conclusive arguments, as by their religion, manners, 
customs, and the nearness of their situation. But now we have 
very small remains of the ancient British tongue, except in Wales, 
the Islands and Highlands of Scotland, part of Ireland, and some 
provinces of France; which will not appear strange, when the 
following historical events, elucidating the rise and progress of 
the English language, are taken into consideration. 

Julius Caesar, some time before the birth of our Saviour, made 
a descent upon Britain, though he may be said rather to have 
discovered than conquered it;* but about the year of Christ 
forty-five, in the time of Claudius, Aulus Plautius was sent over 
with some Homan forces, by whom two kings of the Britons, 
Codigunus and Caractacus, were both overcome in battle; where¬ 
upon a Roman colony was planted at Malden, in Essex, and the 
southern parts of the island were reduced to the form of a Roman 
province; after that, the island was' conquered as far North as 
the Firths of Dumbarton and Edinburgh, by Agricola, in the 
time of Domitian; whereupon a great number of the Britons, in 
the conquered part of the island, retired to the West part, called 
Wales, carrying their language with them. 

The greatest part of Britain being thus become a Roman 
province, the Roman legions, who resided in Britain for above 
200 years, undoubtedly disseminated the Latin tongue; and the 

* It has been proved by astronomical demonstration, that Caesar arrived 
for the first time in front of the cliffs of Dover, on the 23rd of August, 
E.c. 55, at ten in the morning, and finally effected his landing at three 
o'clock of the same day, in the Downs, eight miles from Dover, between 
the South Foreland and Deal. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


3 


people being afterwards governed by laws wiitten in Latin, must 
necessarily make a mixture of languages. This seems to have 
been the first mutation the language of Britain suffered. 

Thus the British tongue continued, for some time, mixed with 
the provincial Latin, till the Roman legions being called home, 
the Scots and Piets took the opportunity to attack and harass 
England ; upon which, King Yortigern, about the year 440, 
called the Saxons to his assistance, who came over with several 
of their neighbours, and having repulsed the Scots and Piets, 
were rewarded for their services with the Isle of Thanet, and the 
whole county of Kent; but growing too powerful, and not being 
contented with their allotment, dispossessed the inhabitants of 
all the country on this side of the Severn; thus the British 
tongue was in a great measure destroyed, and the Saxon intro¬ 
duced in its stead. What the Saxon tongue was, long before the 
conquest, about the year 700, we may observe in the most ancient 
manuscripts of that language, which is a gloss on the Evangelists, 
by Bishop Edfrid, in which the three first articles on the Lord’s 
Prayer run thus :— 

“ Uren Fader thic arth in lieofnas, sic gelialgud thin noma, so 
cymeth thin ric. Sic thin willa sue is heofnas, and in eortho,” &c. 

In the beginning of the ninth century the Danes invaded 
England, and getting a footing in the eastern and northern parts 
of the country, their power gradually increased, and they became 
sole masters of it in 200 years. By this means, the ancient 
British gained a tincture of the Danish language; but their 
government, being of no long continuance, did not make so great 
an alteration in the Anglo-Saxon as the next revolution, when 
the whole land, a.d. 1067, was subdued by William the 
Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, in France ; for the Normans, as 
a monument of their conquest, endeavoured to make their 
language as generally received as their commands, and thereby 
rendered the British language an entire medley. 

About the year 900, the Lord’s Prayer in the ancient Anglo- 
Saxon ran thus :— 

“ Thu ure Fader the eart on heofenum, si thin nama gehalgod ; 
cume thin rice si thin willa on eorthon swa, swa on heofenum,” &c. 

It will now clearly be seen, that the English Language had its 
origin in a compound of others. 

“ Great, verily,” says Camden, “ was the glory of our tongue 
before the Norman Conquest, in this, that the old English could 
express, most aptly, all the conceptions of the mind in their own 
tongue, without borrowing from any.” 

That the English language, although of an heterogeneous origin, 

> possesses more poetical capabilities than any other at the present 
day, there can be no question. Dr. Johnson says, in speaking of 
languages, “ the Spanish for love, the French for gallantry, the 
Italian for music, and the English for poetry.” 




4 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BURLESQUE. 

F. Vavassor mentions, in his hook De Ludicra IHctione , that 
burlesque was altogether unknown to the ancients ; hut others 
are of a* different opinion. We even find that one Raintovious, 
in the time of Ptolemy Lagus, turned the serious subject of 
tragedy into ridicule, which is, perhaps, a better plea for the 
antiquity of farce than of burlesque. The Italians seem to have 
the justest claim to the invention of burlesque; the first of this 
kind was Bernid, who was followed by Lalli, Caporali, &c. From 
Italy it passed into France, and became there so much the mode, 
that in 1649, there appeared a book under the title of “ The 
Passion of our Saviour,” in burlesque verse. From thence it 
passed into England, where some have excelled therein, especially 
Butler in his Hudibras. 

ON THE ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY. 

The distinction between the origin of Government and the 
origin of Political Society, is thus defined in Cooper's Letters on 
the Irish Nation , 1799 : — 

From the writings of Aristotle , we are taught to consider the 
origin of Government not as a work of art, or of intellect, much 
less as the result of contract; but as the consequence of a natural 
instinctive impulse towards comfort, convenience, and security. 
Government was not made, created, or covenanted; but arose 
out of human nature. Laws, indeed, which were afterwards 
added, are artificial aids and contrivances to prop and support 
government. They thwart, control, and subject the passions of 
individuals, in order to prevent their injuring society. But the 
origin of political society is totally distinct. It was dictated by 
nature, and cherished by a conviction and sensation of its utility. 
The same principle of general convenience, which for the well¬ 
being of mankind necessarily gave rise to government, still holds 
it together, and must ever continue to do so. Utility is thus the 
moral principle upon which the obedience of citizens and the 
protection of magistrates rests. It was Nature which established 
the subordination of servant and master, of family to father, and 
of wife to husband. These three branches of domestic economy 
are the germ of all government. Prineipium Urbis et quasi 
Seminarium Reipublicce. “ The British Government,” says 
Montesquieu , “ is one of the wisest in Europe, because there is a 
body which examines it perpetually, and which is perpetually 
examining itself; and its errors are of such a nature as never to 
be lasting, and are frequently useful, by rousing the attention. 
In a word (he adds), a free government, that is to say, one for 
ever in motion, cannot support itself, unless its own laws are 
capable ol correcting the abases of it.' 5 The benevolent Ilanway 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


5 


Bays, “ Government originates from the love of order. Watered 
by police it grows np to maturity, and, in the course of time, 
spreads a luxuriant comfort and security. Cut off its branches, 
and the mere trunk, however strong it may appear, can afford no 
shelter.” Police, being one of the means by which an improved 
state of society is produced and preserved, is defined by Mr. 
Colquhoun to be, “ a new science ; the properties of which 
consist not in the judicial powers which lead to punishment, and 
which belong to magistrates alone ; but in the prevention and 
detection of crimes, and.in those other functions which relate to 
internal regulations for the well ordering and comfort of civil 
society.” “ Again,” says he, “ to effect this purpose, inestimable 
in a national point of view, and benevolent and humane to all 
whose vices and enormities it tends to restrain; a police must be 
resorted to upon the broad scale of general prevention, mild in its 
operations, effective in its results ; having justice and humanity 
for its basis, and the general security of the state and individuals 
for its ultimate object.” 

ORIGIN OF ROOKS, AND VARIOUS OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED 

WITH THEM. 

Several sorts of materials were used formerly in making 
records; plates of lead and copper, the barks of trees, bricks, 
stone, and wood, were the first materials employed to engrave 
such things upon as men were willing to have transmitted to 
posterity. Josephus speaks of two columns, the one of stone, the 
other of brick, on which the children of Seth wrote their inven¬ 
tions and astronomical discoveries. Perphyrius makes mention 
of some pillars, preserved in Crete, on which the ceremonies, 
practised by the Corybantes in their sacrifices, were recorded. 
Hesiod's Works were originally written upon tables of lead, and 
deposited in the temple of the muses, in Boeotia. 

The Ten Commandments delivered to Moses were written upon 
stone ; and Solon's Laws upon wooden planks. Tables of wood, 
box, and ivory, were common among the ancients ; when of 
wood, they were frequently covered with wax, that people might 
write upon them with more ease, or blot out what they had 
written. The leaves of the palm-tree were afterwards used 
instead of wooden planks, and the finest and thinnest part of the 
bark of such trees as the lime, the ash, the maple, and the elm ; 
hence is derived the word liber , which signifies the inner bark 
of the trees ; and as these barks were rolled up, in order to be 
removed with greater ease, these rolls were called volumen , a 
volume ; a name afterwards given to the like rolls of paper or 
parchment.* 

* The name is derived from the Latin volvo, to roll up, the ancient 
manner of making up books, as we find in Cicero’s time the libraries con¬ 
sisted wholly of such rolls. 





6 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Thus we find books were first written on stones, witness the 
Decalogue given to Moses; then on the parts of plants, as leaves 
chiefly of the palm-tree ; the rind and barks, especially the tilia, 
or pliylleria, and the Egyptian papyrus. By degrees wax, then 
leather, were introduced, especially the skins of goats and sheep, 
of which at length parchment was prepared; then lead came into 
use; also linen, silk, horn, and lastly, paper itself. The first books 
were in the form of blocks and tables; but as flexible matter 
came to be wrote on, they found it more convenient to make their 
books in the form of roils; these were composed of several sheets, 
fastened to each other, and rolled upon a stick, or umbilicus , the 
whole making a kind of column or cylinder, which was to be 
managed by the umbilicus as a handle, it being reputed a crime 
(as we are told) to take hold of the roll itself. 

The outside of the volume was called frons; the ends of the 
umbilicus , cornua (horns,) which were usually carved, and adorned 
with silver, ivory, or even gold and precious stones; the title was 
struck on the outside, and the whole volume, when extended, 
might make a yard and a half wide, and fifty long. The form, 
or internal arrangement of books, has also undergone many varie¬ 
ties; at first the letters were only divided into lines, then into 
separate words, which by degrees were noted with accents, into 
periods, paragraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some 
countries, as among the Orientals, the lines began from the right 
and ran leftward ; in others, as the northern and western nations, 
from left to right; others, as the Greeks, followed both directions, 
alternately going in the one, and returning in the other, called 
Boustropliedon ; in most countries the lines run from one side to 
the other; in some, particularly the Chinese, from top to bottom. 
Again, in some the page is entire and uniform; in others, divided 
into columns; in others, distinguished into texts and notes, either 
marginal or at the bottom; usually it is furnished with signa¬ 
tures and catch-words; sometimes also with a register, to dis¬ 
cover whether the book is complete. To these are added 
summaries, or side-notes, and the embellishments, as in old books, 
of red, gold, or initial letters; they had likewise, as with the 
moderns, their head-pieces, tail-pieces, effigies, schemes, maps, and 
the like. There were also certain formulas at the beginnings 
and endings of books ; the one to exhort the reader to be coura¬ 
geous, and proceed to the following books; the others were con¬ 
clusions, often guarded with imprecations against such as should 
falsify them. Of the earlier books we have nothing that is clear 
on that subject. The Books of Moses are doubtless the oldest 
books now extant. Of profane books, the oldest extant are 
Homer’s Poems, which were so even in the time of Sextus Em¬ 
piricus; though we find mention in Greek writers of seventy 
others prior to Homer, as Hermes, Orpheus, Daphne, Horus, 
Linus, Museeus, Palamedes, Zoroaster, &c., but of the greater 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


7 


part of these there is not the least fragment remaining; and of 
others, the pieces which go under their names are generally held 
by the learned to be supposititious. Hardouin goes farther, 
charging all the ancient books, both Greek and Latin, except 
Cicero, Pliny, Virgil’s Georgies, Horace’s Satires and Epistles, 
Herodotus, and Homer, to be spurious, and forged in the 13 th 
century by a club of persons, under the direction of one Severus 
Arcliontius. Among the Greeks it is to be observed, the oldest 
books were in verse, which was prior to prose. Herodotus’s His¬ 
tory is the oldest book extant of the prosaic kind. 

To books we are indebted, as one of the chief instruments of 
acquiring knowledge; they are the repositories of the law, and 
vehicles of learning of every kind ; our religion itself is founded 
in books, and without them, says Bartholin, “ God is silent, Jus¬ 
tice dormant, Physic at a stand, Philosophy lame, Letters dumb, 
and all things involved in Cimmerian darkness.” 

The eulogia which have been bestowed upon books are infinite ; 
they are represented as the refuge of truth, which is banished out 
of conversation; as standing counsellors or preachers, always at 
hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over all 
instructions, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often 
as we please. Books supply the want of masters, and even, in 
some measure, the want of genius and invention, and can raise 
the dullest persons who have memory above the level of the 
greatest geniuses, if destitute of their help. Perhaps their highest 
glory is the affection borne them by the greatest men of all ages. 
Cato, the elder Pliny, the Emperor Julian, and others, are on 
record for their great devotion to books; the last has perpe¬ 
tuated his passion by some Greek Epigrams in their praise. 


THE ALPHABET. 

Alphabet is the name given to the series of letters used in dif¬ 
ferent countries at different times. The term is borrowed from 
the Greek language, in which Alpha, Beta, are the first two let¬ 
ters ; or, if we go a step farther back, we should derive the words 
from the Hebrew, which gives to the corresponding Letters the 
names Aleph, Beth. Thus, the formation of the word is pre¬ 
cisely analogous to that of our familiar expression, the A, B, C. 

DEDICATIONS TO BOOKS. 

Dedications to Books were first introduced in the time of Mae¬ 
cenas, a.d. 17 ; practised for the purpose of obtaining money in 
16 J 0 . * 

* A very curious chapter on dedications is to be found in D’Israeli s 
Curiosities of Literature, p. 122. 



8 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ON THE ORIGIN OF PAMPHLETS AND TRACTS. 

How many subjects owe their birth to a Pamphlet, which, but 
for the temptation it affords to the expression of temporary feel¬ 
ings, and trivial discussion (to which local or personal prejudices 
may have given importance,) would have died a natural death, or 
have been smothered in the attempt to perpetuate them, under 
the more repulsive garb of even the most tiny volume 1 Pamphlets 
are like essences, combining in a narrow compass all the pungency 
of the subject of which they treat; where the declamation and 
violence of the writer are admired while sparingly used, but 
would be tedious, if not disagreeable, if spread over a wider field. 
They may be called a species of missile weapons, easily discharged 
against an adversary; not the less dangerous because they are 
light, and generally bearing a portion of that fire and spirit to 
which they owed their existence. Every controversy is preceded 
by them; like the skirmishers of modern warfare, they are the 
irregular auxiliaries of literature, which, though not formally 
enlisted in its service, may, like wandering guerillas, yet do fear¬ 
ful execution, “ Prom pamphlets,” says the Icon Libellorum , 
“ may be learned the genius of the age, the debates of the learned, 
the follies of the ignorant, the views of government, the over¬ 
sights of the statesman. They furnish beaux with their airs, 
coquets with their charms; pamphlets are as modish ornaments to 
a gentleman’s toilet, or to gentlemen’s pockets; they are chat to 
the talkative, stories for nurses, toys for children, fans for misses, 
poverty to their authors, gain to the lucky, fatal to the unlucky.” 

There have been many conjectures respecting the origin of the 
word Pamphlet; but of all the words that have been suggested, 
those which express a small book consisting of a few leaves of 
paper secured together and not bound, are probably the most 
plausibly ingenious, as well as the nearest to the sense and sound 
of the word itself. For example -.—Par un filet, held by a thread 
(Dr. Jolmson;) Palme feuillet, a leaf to be held in the hand (Dr. 
Pegge;) Papelon, Spanish, from papel; papaleta, signifying both 
a bill and a pamphlet (Dr. Webster.) It occurs in a Latinised 
form so early as to be familiarly mentioned in a work entitled 
Philobiblon; or a treatise concerning the love of Books, written 
in the fourteenth century by Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham. 
“ If, indeed,” says the author of that curious work, “ we formerly 
desired to possess vessels of gold and silver, or stately horses, or 
to collect together no small sums of money;—we now revere 
books and not pounds, and volumes more than florins, and we 
prefer little panflets before noble palfreys.” 

Most books were originally published in the pamphlet form, 
The Scriptures were supposed to have been written in this manner 
at first, in distinct sheets, or rolls, as they were affixed by the 
command of Heaven to the doors of the Temple, or Tabernacle. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


9 


The same may probably be asserted of the mode of divulging the 
warnings of the minor prophets, from the different occasions 
which were the subjects of their predictions, and the smallness of 
their contents. The Heathen writings were generally published 
the same way, and for that reason were called Centores , and were 
frequently recited separately. Amongst all fabulous writers the 
Jewish Rabbins occupy the first place; and the pamphlets, or 
small treatises, preserving their traditions, collected in their 
1 Talmud, and originally published at Venice, amounted to no less 
than fourteen volumes in folio. Next to them in the rank of 
; fiction, and of magnitude, may be classed the “ Legends of the 
Saints,” published by the Jesuits in 1673, and amounting, in the 
beginning of the last century, to fifty folio volumes, all of which 
were originally of pamphlet sizes. 

Political pamphlets were little known in England till the reign 
of Philip and Mary, Oaxton having, in the reign of Henry VI. 
introduced the “ Mysterie of Prynting.” In 1649, it was ordained, 
“ That the author of every seditious pamphlet, or libel, shall be 
fined Ten Pounds, or suffer forty days’ imprisonment. The printer 
Five Pounds, and his printing-press broken,” as being the head 
and front of his offending. “ No printing-presses to be allowed 
except in London, or the two Universities; no books to be landed 
in any other port than London; and to be viewed by the Master 
and Warden of the Company of Stationers!”—and such was the 
origin of the incalculably prolihc case of Pamphlets. 

The terms Traqt and Pamphlet , though differing considerably 
as to age, have always possessed nearly the same signification, 
namely, that of a short composition. The term Tract is even still 
conventionally understood to imply a work somewhat larger and 
on a more serious subject than the Pamphlet; since it was fre¬ 
quently connected with divinity or religious controversy, in which 
the meaning of the original -word is decidedly to be traced. The 
Latin Tractatus , whence it is derived, is a treatise on any subject 
drawn out and methodised. Hence, says Hoffman, the discussions 
and discourses delivered by the ancient philosophers, sophists, 
and rhetoricians, juri-consults, and others of similar classes, were 
called by the "word tractare; and hence also the Christian Fathers 
are every where designated Tractatores , as being those who ex¬ 
plained the word of God by speech or writing. Sermons were thus 
entitled Tractatus with singular propriety. Hence, too, in modern 
times, we have Tracts for the Times , or short theological treatises, 
and the writers of them curiously enough nicknamed Tractarians 
or Tractatores. 

CIRCULATING LIBRARIES. 

These valuable repositories of literature are not of modern 
invention. The first collections consisted of religious works 
alone, and were lent out gratuitously. 



10 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Pampliilus was a Presbyter of Coesarea, and lived a.d. 294. 
In this distinguished person were united the philosopher and the 
Christian. Born of a very eminent family, and large fortune, he 
might have aspired to the highest honours of this world; but, on 
the contrary, he withdrew himself from those flattering pro¬ 
spects, and spent his whole life in acts of the most disinterested 
benevolence. 

His unfeigned regard and veneration for the Scriptures were 
as remarkable as his unwearied application in whatever he under¬ 
took. Being a great encourager of learning and piety, he not 
only lent books to read (especially copies of the Scriptures,) but 
when he found persons well disposed, made them presents of his 
manuscripts, some of which were transcribed with the greatest 
accuracy by his own hand. He founded a library at Caesarea, 
which, according to Isidore of Seville, contained 30,000 volumes. 
This collection seems to have been formed merely for the good 
and use of the church. Another author also authenticates the 
existence of this library; and St. Jerome particularly mentions 
his collecting books for the purpose of lending them to read; and 
Dr. A. Clarke remarks, “ this is, if I mistake not, the first notice 
we have of a circulating library.” The benefits to be derived from 
a good circulating library are too numerous, as well as obvious, 
to need any comment. 

ORIGIN OF POETRY IN GENERAL. 

History informs us Poetry began w r itli shepherds, whose god 
was Pan; having from their many leisure and abstracted hours 
(while tending their flocks) a fit opportunity for such a pursuit. 
Hence, they first composed couplets, next verses, and these they 
perfected themselves in, and sung, while following their daily 
occupations. Thence came the Bacchanalian rites, and their 
sacrifice to their gods of a He Goat, which took their rise, we 
are told, from Bacchus , who one day, whilst entering his vineyard, 
discovered an animal of that species in the act of destroying a 
favourite vine, which in his rage he instantly killed. In these 
ceremonies, the hinds of that day smeared their faces with the 
lees of wine, and acted and sung various verses expressly com¬ 
posed for the occasion. 

These were the first actors and song-smiths, and their successors 
have done honour and credit to the invention. 

“ iEschylus and Thespis taught the age 
What good, what profit, did commend the stage.” 

MILTON’S PARADISE LOST. 

John Milton, son of John and Sarah Milton, was born December 
9th, 1608, in Bread Street, London. He was educated at Saint 
Paul’s School, under Alexander Gill. He entered at Christ’s 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


11 


College, Cambridge, in 1624. Milton possessed a tine figure, and, 
when a young man, was extremely handsome. In one of his 
wanderings when in Italy, being of a very pensive cast, he sat 
himsell down under a tree, and commenced reading, but soon 
> fell asleep. During his slumber two females, who were observed 
at a distance by two of his companions, stopped on coming near 
to him ; and one of them wrote on a slip of paper the following 
lines, which she laid on his breast, and with her companion im¬ 
mediately disappeared :— 

“ Occhi, Stelle mortali, 

Ministri de miei mali, 

Se chiusi m'uccedite, 

Apperti che farete?” 

which may be translated —“ Beautiful eyes, mortal stars, authors 
of my misfortunes! if you wound me being closed, what would 
ye do if open ? ” It is said that Milton was so sensitive on the 
subject, that he roamed over half of Europe in search of the fair 
charmer, but in vain; and which induced him to write that 
sublime poem, and from the circumstance that had occurred to 
him, entitled it “ Paradise Lost.” It has been proved by Dr. 
Rimbault, in a recent number of Notes and Queries , that this 
! piece of Romance first appeared in a newspaper, the General 
* Evening Post, of 1789. The scene, however, is there laid in Eng¬ 
land. The story is given by the Rev. H. J. Todd, in Some 
Account of the Life and Writings of John Milton, 1826, p. 30, who 
adds the following note:—“ This narrative is not singular: an 
exact and older counterpart may be found, as the late J. C. 
Walker pointed out to me, in the Preface to Poesies de 
Marguerite Eleanore Clotilde depuis Madame de Surville, 
Poete Francois du XV. Siecle : Paris, 1803. The Anecdote has 
been elegantly versified in the original Sonnets, &c., of Anna 
Seward.” Milton died November the 8th, 1674, and was buried 
in the Chancel of St. Giles’ Church, Cripplegate. He was 
: Latin Secretary to Cromwell. 

THE FIRST BOOK. 

According to chronologists, the First Book is supposed to have 
been written in Job’s time. Thirty thousand books were burnt 
by order of Leo, in 761. A very large estate was given for one 
book on Cosmography, by king Alfred.* Books were sold from 
£10 to £30 each in 1400. The first printed book was the vul- 
gate edition of the Bible, in 1462; the second was Cicero de 
i Officiis, 1466 ; Cornelius Nepos, published at Moscow, was the 
first classical book printed in Russia, April 29, 1762. In the 

* This statement, which is founded on Robertson, is not to be depended 
on. See, on the subject of the price of Books, Dr. Maitland's “Lark Ages,” 
chap. v. 




12 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


year 1471, when Louis XI. borrowed the works of Basis, the 
Arabian physician, from the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, he 
not only deposited in pledge a quantity of plate, but was obliged 
to give the surety of a nobleman for their restoration. When 
any person made a present of a book to a church or monastery, 
the only libraries during several ages, it was deemed a donative 
of such value that he offered it at the altar, pro remedio animcs 
suce , in order to obtain forgiveness of sins. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Before Newspapers were introduced, such as were desirous of 
procuring information on political subjects, engaged writers of 
News Letters , who forwarded the occurrences of the day to their 
employers. 

Periodical Newspapers first came into General use in England 
during the wars of the usurper Cromwell; they were used to 
disseminate among the people sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, 
according as their authors were disposed. We seem to have 
been obliged to the Italians for the idea ; and perhaps it was 
their gazettas, from gazerra , a magpie, or chatterer, which have 
given a name to these papers. Plonest Peter Heylin, in the 
preface to his Cosmography , mentions, that “ the affairs of each 
town, or war, were better presented to the reader in the Weekly 
News Books.” It was long supposed that the origin of periodical 
Literature in this country, was to be traced to the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, when England being threatened with a formidable 
invasion from Spain, the wise and prudent Burleigh projected 
“ The English Mercurie,” printed in the year 1588, with the design 
of conveying correct information to the people during the con¬ 
tinuance of the boasted Spanish Armada in the Channel. It 
has however been shown by Mr. Watts, of the British Museuqi, 
that the copy of the “ English Mercurie,” dated July 28th, 1588, in 
that Library, owes its existence to the ingenuity of the noble 
author of The Athenian Letters. The first weekly paper was 
published by Nathaniel Butler, in August, 1622, entitled, “ The 
certain news of this present week,” and within a few years other 
journals were started, but they did not become numerous until 
the time of the civil wars. 

In a Leicester journal for 1750, about which time the paper 
was established, so great was the dearth of News matter at that 
period, that the editor was compelled to have recourse to the 
Bible to “ help him out ;” and actually extracted the First Chapter 
of Genesis, and so continued the extracts in the succeeding 
numbers as far as the Tenth Chapter of Exodus ! 

The journal above alluded to was then printed in London, and 
sent down to Leicester for publication ! 

Newspapers were first stamped in 1713. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


13 


THE POPE’S BULL. 

This name, which is now applied exclusively to instruments 
issuing out of the Roman Chancery, is derived from the seals 
which were appended to them being formerly of gold Bullion. 
Bulls were not originally confined to the popes alone, but were 
also issued by emperors, princes, bishops, and great men, who, 
till the thirteenth century, sometimes affixed seals of metal, as 
i well as of wax, to edicts, charters, and other instruments, though 
they were equally called Bulls , whether they were sealed with 
one or the other. The popes continue to the present day to affix 
metal or lead seals to their bulls, and only when they wish to 
bestow any peculiar marks of grace and favour on sovereigns or 
princes, are seals of Bullion or gold affixed. The bull of pope 
Clement VII., conferring the title of Defender of the Faith on 
Henry the Eighth, had a seal of gold affixed to it. Bulls con- 
| taining matter of grace and favour, were suspended by strings 
of red and yellow silk ; but denunciatory and punitive bulls 
were hung by hempen cords. 


BIBLES. 

In the reign of Edward the First, the price of a fairly written 
Bible was twenty-seven pounds. The hire of a labourer was but 
three-halfpence a day. The purchase of a copy would, of course, 
have taken such a person the earning of fifteen years and three 
months of constant labour. It will be seen from a preceding 
article, that the first printed book was a vulgate edition of the 
Bible, in 1482. The British and Foreign Bible Society contri¬ 
buted to the Great Exhibition specimens of 165 books, in different 
languages, from the 170 versions of the Holy Scriptures, either 
in whole or in part, which have been published directly or 
indirectly by the Society, and of which 118 are from translations 
never before printed ; and of which more than twenty-four 
millions of copies have been circulated since its institution in 
1804. 


THE BIBLE AND ITS HISTORY. 

The Bible history commenced 430 years b.c. The Septuagint 
version was made in 284; first divided into chapters, 1253. The 
first English edition was in 1536 ; the first authorized edition in 
England was in 1539; the second translation was ordered to be 
read in churches, 1549; the present translation finished, Septem¬ 
ber, 1611; permitted by the pope to be translated into all the 
languages of the Catholic states, February 28th, 1759; the fol¬ 
io win g°is a dissection of the Old and New Testament:— 



14 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


In the Old Testament. 

In the New. 

Total. 

Books - - 

- - 39 

27 

GO 

Chapters - 

- - 920 

200 

1,189 

Y erses 

- - 23,214 

7,959 

31,173 

W ords 

- - 592,493 

181,253 

773,746 

Letters 

- - 2,728,100 

838,380 

3,566,480 


The Apocrypha has 183 chapters, 6,081 verses, and 125,185 
words. The middle chapter, and the least in the Bible, is the 
117tli Psalm; the middle verse is the 8tli of 118th Psalm; the 
middle line is the 2nd Book of the Chronicles, 4th chapter, and 
16th verse; the word and occurs in the Old Testament 35,535 
times; the same word in the New Testament occurs 10,684 times; 
the word Jehovah occurs 6,855 times. 

Old Testament . The middle Book is Proverbs; the middle 
chapter, the 29th of Job; the middle verse is the 2nd Book of 
Chronicles, 20tli chapter, and 18th verse; the least verse is the 
1st Book of Chronicles, 1st chapter, and 1st verse. 

New Testament. The middle is the Thessalonians 2nd; the mid¬ 
dle chapter is between the 13tli and 14th of the Romans; the 
middle verse is the 17th of the 17th chapter of the Acts; the 
least verse is the 35tli of the lltli chapter of the Gospel by Saint 
John. 

The 21st verse of the 7tli chapter of Ezra has all the letters of 
the alphabet in it. 

The 19th chapter of the 2nd Book of Kings, and the 37th chapter 
of Isaiah, are alike. 

The Book of Esther has 10 chapters, but neither the words 
Lord nor God in it. 

The 26th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, is generally con¬ 
sidered as the finest piece of reading extant.— Chronology , or 
Historian's Companion. 

ORIGIN OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE INTO ENGLISH. 

Wickliffe, who exercised the right of private judgment in Eng¬ 
land a century and a half before Luther taught it as a principle 
in Germany, may be said to have been the "first dissenter from 
the church of Rome. 

After a life wonderfully preserved from the unsparing cruelty 
of ecclesiastical power, by the protection of Edward III., his me¬ 
mory was affectionately revered, and, as printing had not been 
discovered, his writings were scarce, and earnestly sought. He 
may be said to have been the first who translated the New Tes¬ 
tament into English ; and a splendid edition of the translation 
made by Wickliffe and his followers, has just been published by 
the University of Oxford, in four quarto volumes, under the 
editorship of Sir Frederick Madden and the Rev. J. Forshall. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


15 


DOMESDAY BOOK. 

How many read of Domesday Book witliout knowing what it 
is, or inquiring into what it means; let us then inform them 
that it is a valuable record of antiquity, in which the estates of 
this kingdom are registered, begun in 1080, by order of William 
the Conqueror, and compiled in less than six years, written on 
' 380 double pages of vellum, in one hand; and it is, without doubt, 
the most important and interesting document possessed by any 
nation in Europe; it is also remarkable, that on searching this 
book, we find such a similarity in the orthography of names of 
' towns upwards of seven centuries ago, and the present period: 
for instance, the following towns in Sussex. 

Bristelmetune ----- Brighthelmstone 

Wordinges _____ Worthing 

Prestetune ----- Preston 

It was called Domesday Book, because it was intended to carry 
down to the latest posterity, circumstances and events of former 
times. That it has thus far given an earnest of its deserving the 
title, all historians agree. Such, reader, is the celebrated Domes¬ 
day Book, one of those records so peculiar to the land of the 
venerable Bede and the immortal Newton. 

Domesday Book has been printed by the government, in four 
folio volumes; and a most valuable introduction to it by Sir 
Henry Ellis, has been separately printed in 2 vols. octavo. 

PAPER. 

This useful article was invented in China, when the art of mak¬ 
ing sheets of paper from the bark of trees, from bamboo, old rags, 
silk, hemp, or cotton, reduced to pulp, dates from the commence¬ 
ment of the second century of the Christian era. Before the 
invention of paper, the papyrus was in general use among Euro¬ 
pean nations; the use of this, however, ceased about the ninth 
century, and was supplanted by the cotton paper, made in the 
east. The introduction of paper-making in France, dates from 
the fourteenth century; in England, its manufacture was much 
later. From some verses printed in a book by Wynkyn'de 
Worde, in 1496, entitled Bartholomams de Proprietatibus rerum , 
it appears that the paper had been made for it by John Tate, 
jun., at his mill in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. In 1558, Queen 
Elizabeth granted to her jeweller, John Speilman, the right to 
erect a paper-mill at Hartford. So late as the middle of the last 
century, only common wrapping-paper was manufactuied in 
Great Britain. It was not until 1/70, that the celebrated J. 
Whatman, established fine paper-making at Maidstone, in Kent, 
after his return from the continent, where he had worked as a 



16 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM* 


journeyman. In 1803, Mr. Bryan Donkin produced a self-acting 
machine for continuous paper, which he erected at Frogmore, in 
Hertfordshire; and in 1804, he put up the second machine at 
Two Waters. In 1809, Mr. Dickinson invented another method 
of making endless paper; since which time various patents have 
been taken out for improvements in parts of the machinery, or for 
other machinery to be applied in various stages of the process. 
Wire marks, or water marks, as they are called, were formerly 
applied to paper to distinguish it. On the paper used by Caxton 
and the other early printers, these marks consisted of an ox head 
and star, a collared dog’s head, a crown, a shield, a jug, &c. A head 
with a fool’s-cap and bell, gave name to the paper called foolscap; 
and post paper seems to have derived its name from the mark 
of a horn, which was formerly carried by the postman, and blown 
to announce his arrival. The annual value of paper manufac¬ 
tured in this country is said to be two millions sterling. 

PRINTING. 

The press is the most important instrument of civilisation. It 
is by the aid of printing that different nations have imparted to 
each othertheir thoughts and their feelings, and have thus received 
a combined existence. In every age, and in all countries, printing 
denotes the state of civilization, of which books are the reflex, 
and the history of the human mind is written in bibliography. 
The origin of the art is involved in obscurity, there being no clue 
by which it can be clearly traced, yet it is doubtless of very early 
date : some authors maintain that printing was practised during 
the building of Babylon. Some have supposed that the know¬ 
ledge of the art was originally obtained from the Chinese. Hence 
we find that Abdalla’s Chinese History notices the wooden tablets 
engraven to print entire pages on one side of the leaf, and after¬ 
wards practised by Coster and other block-printers in the Low 
Countries. Four names have appeared in the controversy 
respecting the invention of printing :—John Gutenberg of Stras- 
burg ; John Fust (or Faust) of Mayence ; Peter Schoeffer of 
Gernsheim ; and Lawrence Coster of Haarlem. It is supposed 
that Caxton brought the art of printing into England in 1474, 
and that this date is indicated in the centre of his device. Stow 
says, that he first exercised his business in an old chapel near 
the entrance of the Abbey; but a very curious placard in Mr. 
Douce’s library at Oxford, shows that he printed in the Almonry. 
The two largest collections from Caxton’s press, are those in the 
British Museum, and in Earl Spencer’s library at Altliorpe. Soon 
after the first origin of movable types, the art of printing had 
attained a great degree of perfection, and it was not till the 
second half of the last century, that owing to the efforts of Ibarra 
in Spain; of Baskerville and of B ulmer in England; of the 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM, 


17 


Foulises and the Ruddimans in Scotland ; of Bodini in Italy ; and 
of the Didot family in Paris, any real progress can be pointed out. 

As a striking proof of the present improved state of the 
typographic art, we need only point to The Times newspaper, 
which prints 35,000 copies every day ; but on the day following 
the Duke of Wellington’s funeral (viz. Nov. 19,1852) 70,000 copies 
were printed, being 15,000 more than had ever been printed of 
any one number before. The 70,000 copies were printed off in 
six hours and a quarter by their wonderful machine. In London, 
the centre of the printing and book business, there were in 1851, 
3000 men and 1500 boys employed as Compositors, besides 800 
men and 350 boys at press. Nearly 3000 works (including new 
editions) are published yearly, of the value of £450,000: 230 
monthly and quarterly magazines produce £500,000 yearly. 
The stamp-duty on newspapers in 1845, was £327,682 ; in 1850, 
sixty-five millions and three-quarters of penny stamps, and eleven 
millions and three-quarters of halfpenny stamps, were used by 
159 . London and 222 English provincial newspapers. Seven 
millions and three-quarters of penny stamps, and half a million 
of halfpenny stamps, by 110 Scottish papers. Six millions and 
three quarters of penny, and half a million of halfpenny stamps, 
by 102 Irish papers. 

TYPE-FOUNDING. 

Type-founding was an improvement upon the Chinese engraved 
blocks. With these forms, or blocks, they could print nothing 
else, because the letters could not be transposed. Guttenberg, 
however, assisted by John Fust, or Faust, discovered the means 
of cutting the forms of all the letters of the alphabet, which they 
called matrices, from which again they cast characters in copper 
or tin, of sufficient hardness to resist the required pressure. 
Faust’s son-in-law, Schoeffer, adopted the more easy method of 
casting the types, which, with various improvements, has been 
continued to the present time. At the commencement of the 
eighteenth century, native talent was at so low an ebb, that nearly 
all the types used in London were imported from Holland. Wil¬ 
liam Caslon, however, has the honour of removing this stigma 
upon English ingenuity, and of establishing the first foundery for 
British types. 

The most important operation of a type-foundery is the forma¬ 
tion of the punches, which are well-tempered pieces of steel. The 
face of the punch exactly resembles that of the finished type : the 
letter being reversed, and in high relief. The punch being 
hardened, it is then struck into a piece of copper, which receives 
the impression from the end of the punch, and forms a mould 
(called the matrix) for the face of the type, by which an expert 
workman will cast 500 letters in an hour. At the close of the 
last century, the Younger Fourmier, a punch-cutter and type- 







18 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


founder, caused some improvements to be made in tliis art; and 
M. Fermin Didot of Paris, who engraved the types used by his 
father for his beautiful publications, exerted himself for the pur¬ 
pose of imparting to types of all descriptions the highest degree 
of elegance. Mr. Whittingham of Chiswick first re-introduced 
the old letters of Garamond and Jenson, and has been followed 
by many of the London printers, so true it is “ there is nothing 
new in this world except that which is old.” 

STEREOTYPING. 

This is one of the means for making fac-similes in type-metal 
of pages of types, woodcuts, &c., about the eighth of an inch thick, 
and, to keep the plates of a volume of one uniform thickness, each 
plate is turned in a lathe. The process is as follows :—When the 
form of type is ready, the face of it is oiled with a brush, then 
burnt plaster of Paris (gypsum), mixed with water to the consis¬ 
tence of cream, is poured upon it; this matrix is then dried in an 
oven, and afterwards secured in a frame, and immersed in a 
caldron of melted metal. The plate thus produced, is then passed 
to the picker, who removes any superfluous metal. The first 
attempt at stereotyping was made by Samuel Luchtmans, who 
obtained plates by a process of clichage. About 1700, Yalleyre 
printed in Paris some almanacs which he had obtained by 
casting. In 1725, Mr. William Ged, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, 
printed an edition of Sallust from plates ; and in 1784, M. Hoff¬ 
man, of Alsace, France, succeeded in obtaining stereotype plates 
from moulds of clay mixed with gelatine. But all the previous 
methods were superseded by the present process, invented bv 
Lord Stanhope in 1800. Numerous attempts have since been 
made to substitute for plaster moulds the employment of sheets 
of paper with whiting placed between them ; but the results 
appear inferior to the plaster moulds. For vignettes, casts of 
bitumen answer very well, and stereotype plates of bitumen give 
good results. 

BOOKBINDING. 

Splendour in the binding of books is a taste which dates back 
from remote times. These magnificent covers with their rich 
bindings were executed for the greater part by jewellers, who 
enriched them with reliefs in gold, silver, steel, aiid ivory ; with 
precious stones, enamels, and other decorations. The ancient 
rolls were fastened together, either in the centre or from the end, 
by means of a boss, upon which the most cunning and curious art 
was frequently lavished. Yelvet seems to have been the favourite 
covering for books at an early period. Calf leather came into 
use about the same time as veilum, during the fifteenth century. 
At the beginning of the next century, all the skill of the work- 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


19 


man was lavished in ornamenting the sides, the backs being plain, 
and even without a lettering. From that period till the com¬ 
mencement of the present, very little improvement was made 
in bookbinding ; but of late years the production of books has so 
greatly exceeded that of any former period, and caused the appli¬ 
cation of so much machinery, that bookbinding may fairly be 
said to have become a manufacturing business. Books, hand¬ 
somely bound, gilt, lettered, embossed, and otherwise ornamented, 
no longer depend upon individual skill; but are produced, with 
extraordinary rapidity, by the aid of machinery. Thus, many of 
the principal London houses can put 1000 volumes in cloth, gilt, 
in six hours , provided the covers be previously got ready, and 
this can be done in less than two days ! 

AUTHORS. 

“ Hard is the task a letter’d fame to raise, 

And poor, alas! the recompense it pays.” 

La Bruyere, many years ago, observed, that “ ’tis as much a 
trade to make a book as a clock c'est un metier que de faire un 
livre , comme de faire line pendule. But, since his day, many vast 
improvements have been made. Solomon said, that “ of making 
many books there is no end and Seneca complained, that, “as 
the Romans had more than enough of other things, so they had 
also of books and book-making. But Solomon and Seneca lived 
in an age when books were considered as a luxury, and not a 
necessary of life. The case is now altered ; and though, perhaps, 
as Doctor Johnson observed, “ no man gets a bellyful of know¬ 
ledge,” every one has a mouthful. 

ARCHITECTURE. 

When mankind had no other shelter from the dews of night, 
or the burning sun of noon-day, but what could be derived from 
the trees of the forest, how anxious must they have been to im¬ 
prove their condition, and how solicitous to discover some mode 
of fortifying their miserable huts against the vicissitudes of the 
season ! It is therefore not unlikely, that baked clay, in the 
form of bricks, was made use of for this important purpose, in an 
early state of society. This application of clay is, indeed, known 
to have been very ancient. 

The Tower of Babel, 2247 years before Christ, was built with 
bricks ; and when the Children of Israel sojourned in Egypt, 600 
years afterwards, their taskmasters employed them chiefly in 
this kind of manufactory.—Exodus i. 13, 14 ; v. 6, 19. 

Architecture may be said, however, to be in a measure coeval 
with the creation, that is, in its rude state. In the Sacred Scrip¬ 
tures we are told, that Cain, the second man, and the first born 
of human beings, “ builded a city, and called the name of the 
city, after the name of his son, Enoch.” Whether this city con- 



'20 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


.sisted of a series of huts, constructed of branches and twigs of 
trees, like the wigwams of the American Indians, or of tents 
made by covering a pole with the skins of animals, we know not. 
Vitruvius, a celebrated architect in the age of Augustus, who 
wrote more than eighteen centuries ago, considered that men 
took their idea of huts from bird-nests, and constructed them of 
11 conic figure ; but finding this form inconvenient, on account of 
its inclined sides, gave them afterwards a cubical form. Four 
large upright beams, on which were placed four horizontally, he 
considers the ground-work of the building, the intervals being 
filled with branches interwoven, and covered with clay. The 
Egyptians, who, according to Scripture, were the first makers 
of bricks, gave an impetus to the improvement of architecture 5 
next the Romans, aud then the Greeks ; then 

“ Palaces and lofty domes arose, 

These for devotion, and for pleasure those.” 

In the Grecian style, less wealth, but more taste prevailed, and 
where, indeed, architecture may be said to have been cradled, 
since it is to the Greeks that we owe its true proportions, as ex¬ 
emplified in the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Orders, which we 
derive from them. The Greek term for architect is *pxneara?, 
which we find employed by Herodotus in the same sense as the 
word architect now is ; he informs us that Rhoecus a Samian was 
the architecton or architect of the great Temple of Samos. We 
thus learn from positive testimony, that before the great buildings 
of Athens were erected, the term Architect, and the profession 
of an Architect, were distinctly recognised among the Greeks. 

FIVE ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE. 

The Greeks are entitled to the honour of having first com¬ 
bined elegance and symmetry with utility and convenience in 
building; and by them and the Romans were the Five Orders , 
into which architecture is generally divided, carried to perfec¬ 
tion. These orders, as Mr. Alison, in his “ Principles of Taste,” 
well observes, “have different characters from several causes, 
and chiefly from the different quantity of matter in their entabla¬ 
tures. The Tuscan is distinguished by its severity; the Doric 
by its simplicity ; the Ionic by its elegance ; the Corinthian and 
Composite by their lightness and gaiety. To these characters 
their several ornaments are suited with consummate taste. 
Change these ornaments; give to the Tuscan the Corinthian 
Capital, or to the Corinthian the Tuscan, and every person would 
feel not only a disappointment from this unexpected composition 
but a sentiment also of impropriety, from the appropriation of a 
grave or sober ornament to a subject of splendour, and of a rich 
or gaudy ornament to a subject of severity.” 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


21 


TUSCAN. 

The Tuscan Order had its name and origin in Tuscany, first 
inhabited by a colony from Lydia, whence it is likely the order 
is but the simplified Doric. On account of its strong and mas¬ 
sive proportions, it is called the Rustic Order, and is chiefly used 
in edifices of that character, composed of few parts, devoid of 
ornament, and capable of supporting the heaviest weights. The 
Tuscan Order will always live where strength and solidity are 
required. The Etruscan architecture is nearly allied to the 
Grecian, but possesses an inferior degree of elegance. The Trajan 
Column at Rome, of this order, is less remarkable for the beauty 
of its proportions, than the admirable pillar with which it is de¬ 
corated. 

DORIC. 

The Doric Order, so called from Dorus, who built a magnificent 
temple in the city of Argos, and dedicated it to Juno, is grave, 
robust, and of masculine appearance, whence it is figuratively 
termed the Herculean Order. The Doric possesses nearly the 
character for strength as the Tuscan, but is enlivened with orua-. 
ments in the frize and capital. In various ancient remains of 
this order, the proportions of the columns are different. 

Ion, who built a temple to Apollo in Asia, taking his idea from 
the structure of man, gave six times the diameter of the base for 
the height of the column. Of this order is the Temple of The¬ 
seus, at Athens, built ten years after the battle of Marathon, and 
at this day almost entire. 

ionic. 

The Ionic Order derived its origin from the people of Ionia . 
The column is more slender than the Doric, but more graceful. 
Its ornaments are elegant, and in a style between the richness of 
the Corinthian and the plainness of the Tuscan, simple, graceful, 
and majestic; whence it has been compared to a female, rather 
decently than richly decorated. When Hermogenes built the 
Temple of Bacchus at Teos, he rejected the Doric after the mar¬ 
bles had been prepared, and in its stead adopted the Ionic. The 
Temple of Diana at Ephesus, of Apollo at Miletus, and of the 
Delphic Oracle, were of this order. 

CORINTHIAN. 

This is the finest of all the orders, and was first adopted at 
Corinth , from whence it derives its name. Scamozzi calls it the 
Virginal Order, expressive of the delicacy, tenderness, and beauty 
of the whole composition. The most perfect model of the Corin¬ 
thian Order, is generally allowed to be in the three columns in 
the Campo Vaccino at Rome, the remains of the Temple of Ju- 
pitor Stator. 

The leaves of a species of Acanthus, (says an ingenious caterer 
of the literary world,) accidentally growing round a basket covered 






22 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


with a tile, gave occasion to the capital of this beautiful order in 
architecture: an Athenian old woman happened to place a basket, 
with a tile laid over it, which covered the root of an Acanthus; 
that plant shooting up the following spring, encompassed the 
basket all around, till, meeting with the tile, it curled back in a 
kind of scroll. Callimachus, an ingenious sculptor, passing by, 
took the hint, and instantly executed a capital on this plan, re¬ 
presenting the tile by the Abacus, the leaves by the Volutes, and 
the basket by the vase or body of the capital. Abacus is the up¬ 
permost member of a column, serving as a kind of crowning both 
to the capital and the whole column. Vitruvius, and others after 
him, who gave the history of the orders, tells us, the Abacus was 
originally intended to represent a square tile over an urn, or 
rather, over a basket. 

COMPOSITE. 

The Composite Order was invented by the Romans, and par¬ 
takes of the Ionic and Corinthian Orders, but principally of the 
latter, particularly in the leaves of the capitals. This order 
shows, that the Greeks had in the four original orders exhausted 
all the principles of grandeur, and that, to frame a fifth, they 
must necessarily combine the former. 

GOTHIC. 

The Gothic style of architecture is that in which the pointed 
arch applied in various ways, becomes a leading characteristic of 
the edifice. England, France, and Germany, respectively claim 
the invention of the Gothic; bitt all that can be safely asserted is, 
that it sprang up about the close of the twelfth century through¬ 
out the principal part of Europe. Gothic architecture has of late 
years excited much attention. The best work on the subject is 
Parker's Glossary. 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF ANCIENT AND MODERN STRUCTURES, &c. 

B. Christ. 

2247. The Tower of Babel, built by Noah's Posterity in the Plains of 
Shinar. 

1718. Sparta built. 

1575. Pyramids of Egypt built. 

1556. Cecrops founds Athens. 

1546. Scamander, from Crete, founds Troy, which was burned by the 
Greeks on the 11th of June, 1184. 

1252. The city of Tyre built. 

1233. Carthage founded by a colony of Tyrians. 

1176. Salamis, in Cyprus, built by Teucer. 

1152. Ascanius buiids the City of Alba Longa. 

1141. The Temple of Ephesus destroyed by'the Amazons. 

1124. Thebes built by the Boeotians. 

1012. Solomon begins the Temple of Jerusalem; 974, plundered by Sesac, 
king of Egypt; 586, destroyed by tire; 515, rebuilt; 170, plun¬ 
dered byAntiochus; 19, rebuilt by Herod, a. d. 70, Jerusalem 
destroyed; 130, rebuilt, and a temple dedicated to Jupiter; 1023, 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


23 


B. Christ. 

the temple plundered by the Caliph of Egypt; 1031, began to be 
rebuilt by Itomanus; 1187, Jerusalem finally destroyed by Saladin. 
992. Solomon’s Palace finished. 

08G. Samas and Utica built. 

974. Jerusalem taken, and the temple plundered by Sesac, king of Egypt. 
809. 1 he City of Carthage supposed to be built by Dido; destroyed by 
P. Scipio, 146; rebuilt by order of the Roman seuate, 123. 

801. Capua, in Campania, built. 

753. Rome built; plundered by Alaric, a. d. 410. 

732. Syracuse supposed to be built about this time by a Colony of Corin¬ 
thians, under Archias. 

708. Ecbatana built by Dejoces. 

707. The Parthians, on being expelled from Sparta, build Tarentum. 

703. Corcyra built by the Corinthians. 

058. Byzantium built about this time by a Colony of Argives. 

630. Cyrene built by Battus, who begins that kingdom. 

549. The Temple of Apollo, at Delphos, destroyed by Pisistratidae. 

539. Marseilles built by the Phocaeans. 

493. The Athenians built the Port of Piraeus. 

450. Temple of Minerva at Athens built. 

434. Apollo's Temple at Delphos built; burnt down 362. 

351. The Sidonians, being besieged by the Persian army, burn their city. 

The monument of Mausolus erected. 

315. Cassander rebuilds Thebes, and founds Cassandria. 

312. Appian way to Rome made. 

304. Antioch, Edessa, Laodicea, &c., founded by Seleucus. Antioch 
destroyed by the king of Persia, a. d. 640; rebuilt, 542. The City 
of Antioch destroyed by an earthquake, 580. 

291. Seleucus builds and peoples about forty new cities in Asia. 

283. The college and library of Alexandria founded. 

267. A canal made by Ptolemy from the Nile to the Red Sea. 

83. Sylla destroys the Roman capitol; 69 b. c. rebuilt; a. d. 80, destroyed 
by fire; it was again rebuilt, and destroyed by lightning, a. d. 188. 

55. Pompey builds a stone theatre for public amusements; destroyed by 

fire, a. d. 21. 

50. Dover Castle built. 

27.' The Pantheon at Rome built; destroyed by fire, A. D. 80. 

19. The aqueducts at Rome constructed by Agrippa. 

10. The city of Caesarea built by Herod; destroyed by an earthquake, 
A. d. 128. 

A. D. 

18. Tiberius built by Herod. 

50. London built about this time by the Romans. 

56. Rotterdam built about this time. 

70. Jerusalem destroyed by Titus. 

79. Herculaneum and Pompeii destroyed by an eruption of Mount 

Vesuvius. 

80. Titus builds the hot baths and amphitheatre at Rome. 

114. Trajan erects his column at Rome. 

121. A wall built bv Adrian between Carlisle and Newcastle. 

130. Adrian rebuilds Jerusalem, and erects a temple to Jupiten 
134. Urbicus’s wall built between Edinburgh and the Firth of Clyde. 

209. Severus builds his wall across Britain. 

260. The Temple of Diana burnt. 

274. The Temple of the Sun built at Rome. 

306. London AVall built. 


24 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


A. D. 

452. The city of Venice founded about this time. 

,615. The first monastery founded in Bavaria. 

604. St. Paul’s church founded by Ethelbert, king of Kent. 

611. Westminster Abbey founded by Sibert, king of the East Saxons. 
Henry the Seventh’s Chapel built in 1504; complete repair of, 
begun 1818. 

644. Cambridge University, or rather an academic institution, founded by 
Sigebert, king of East Anglia; the present University appears to 
have been founded in 915. 

692. Carisbrook Castle built; rebuilt, 1610. 

744. Monastery of Fulda, in Germany, founded. 

762. Bagdad built by Almansor. 

829. St. Mark’s at Venice built. 

886. Alfred founds the University of Oxford. 

895. The monastery of Clune founded. 

950. Edinburgh Castle built. 

1078. Tower of London built. 

XJ.20. Kenilworth Castle built. 

1132. Fountain’s Abbey built. 

1156. The City of Moscow founded. 

1176. London Bridge begun; finished 1209. 

1369. Bastile at Paris begun ; finished 1383; destroyed July 14, 1789. 

1588. The llialto at Venice begun; finished 1591. 

1662. The Royal Society established. 

1675. St. Paul’s Cathedral begun; finished 1710. 

1732. Bank of England built; enlarged 1771, 1783, 1789; part of the front 
rebuilt, 1824-5. 

1738—9. Westminster Bridge begun; finished 1746. 

1760. Blackfriars’Bridge begun; finished 1770. 

1811. Waterloo Bridge begun; finished and opened June 18, 1817. 

1814. Southwark (iron) Bridge begun; finished 1819. 

1824. New London Bridge begun; opened August 1st, 1831. 

1824. New Post-Office begun; opened Sept. 3, 1829. 

1824. National Gallery first opened on May 10th. 

1825. Buckingham Palace commenced: completed July 13, 1837. 

1825. Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, opened. 

1825. First stone laid of New London Bridge: opened August 1,1831. 

1825. Thames Tunnel commenced: opened March 25, 1843. 

1826. Last lottery on October 18th. 

1827. Hammersmith Suspension Bridge opened on October 6th. 

1827. London University commenced; opened October 1, 1828. 

1827. Carlton House demolished. 

1828. New Corn Exchange opened on June 24th. 

1828. St. Katherine’s Docks opened. 

1829. Colosseum, Regent’s Park, opened. 

1829. King’s College, Strand, commenced; completed 1831. 

1829. New Police commenced duty on Sept. 29th. 

1830. Omnibuses, by Shillibeer, first ran between Paddington and the Bank. 

1831. Exeter Hall opened. 

1832. Kensal Green, the first cemetery, opened. 

1833. Hungerford Market re-opened. 

1834. - House of Parliament burnt, Oct. 16th. 

1835. First stone of the City of London School laid. 

1836. Greenwich Railway opened, Dec. 14th. 

1837. Accession of Queen Victoria, June 20th. 

1838. Royal Exchange burnt down. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


25 * 


A. D. 

1841. The ToWer of London on fire, Oct. 30th. 

1842. First stone of the New Royal Exchange laid; opened by the Queen 

on Sept. 28, 1844. 

1843. Nelson's statue placed on the Column in Trafalgar Square. 

1844. King William IV’s statue erected in the City. 

184-5. Hungerford Suspension Bridge opened. 

1846. Wyatt’s Wellington Statue erected in Hyde Park corner. 

1847. New House of Lords opened. 

1849. Olympic Theatre burnt down. 

1849. New Coal Exchange opened. 

1849. Portland Breakwater commenced. 

1850. New House of Commons completed. 

1851. Palace of Glass for the Great Exhibition. 

1851. Battersea Suspension Bridge commenced. 

1852. New Crystal Palace at Sydenham commenced, August 5th. 


PARAPET WALLS TO HOUSES. 

Parapet walls, it would appear, have a scriptural origin. In 
support of which, the following text in Deuteronomy may be 
quoted :—“ When thou buildest a new house, then shalt thou 
make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon 
thy house, if any man fall fromddience.” 

ORIGIN OF BUILDING WITH STONE IN ENGLAND. 

Building with stone was first introduced by one Bennet, a 
monk, in 670 ; building with brick was first introduced by the 
Bomans into their provinces, and introduced by the Earl of 
Arundel in 1600, at which time the houses of London were 
chiefly built of wood. 

DERIVATION OF THE TERM FRET-WORK IN ARCHITECTURE. 

The compound word fret-work, as applied to architecture, is de¬ 
rived from the Saxon word frcettan, signifying fishes’ teeth. But 
its most distinguishing characteristics are small clustered pillars 
and pointed arches, formed by the segments of two intersecting 
circles. This style was of Arabian origin, introduced into Europe 
by the Crusaders, or those who made pilgrimages to the Holy 
Land. In the reign of Henry III. many of the old buildings 
were pulled down, to give place to new ones of this model. 

The Cathedral of Salisbury was begun early in this reign, and 
finished in 1258. It is one of the finest productions of ancient 
architecture in this island, and is completely and truly Gothic. 
Gothic is a general term for that kind of architecture formerly 
used in England and on the Continent, but the ancient buildings 
in this country are divided into Saxon, Norman, and Saracenic. 


26 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ORIGIN OF EARTHENWARE AND PORCELAIN. 

The origin of Earthenware and Porcelain may probably be 
ascribed to accident. It is very possible that the peculiar 
changes which clay experiences on being burnt in the fire, may 
have afforded to some of the early inhabitants of the world, the 
first hints for applying the earth to a variety of useful purposes. 
The making of bricks was one, as noticed in a preceding article. 
It was probably not long after the employment of clay in making 
bricks, that mankind learnt the art of using it in various other 
ways, and acquired methods of moulding it into vessels of capacity, 
and utensils for culinary purposes. Accordingly, the most 
ancient writers we have mention earthen vessels,* and they 
speak of them as if they had been in use from time immemorial. 
It appears also, that considerable pains were taken in tempering 
the clay for these purposes, for we read that this process was 
performed by treading it with the naked feet.f 

From a passage in Juvenal , who wrote in the first century of 
the Christian era, it seems that earthenware was then made in 
great plenty in Egypt. 

“ Hac ssevit rabie imbelle et inutile vulgus, 

Parvula fictilibus solitum dare vela phaselis, 

Et brevibus pictae remis incumbere testae.” J 

In China and Japan, common earthenware, and porcelain of 
excellent quality, was made long before the commencement of’ 
the Christian sera. 

“First China’s sons with early art elate, 

Formed the gay Teapot, and the pictured Plate, 

Saw with illumined brow and dazzled eyes 
In the red stove vitrescent colours rise; |j 
Speck’d her tall beakers with enamell’d stars, 

Her monster-josses and gigantic jars; 

« 

* “ But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken.”— Levit. 
vi. 28.— “ And the priest shall take water in an earthen vessel.”— Numb. v. 
17.—•“ Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in 
pieces like a potter’s vessel.”— Psalm ii. 9. 

f And he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as a potter 
treadeth clay.—Isaiah xli. 25. 

I Juven. Sat. xv. ver. 12G—128. 

-“ who drive with little sail 

Their earthen boat before the summer gale, 

Or through the tranquil water’s easy swell 
Work the short paddles of their painted shell.” 

Hobson’s Juv. 4to. London, 1807, p. 288. 

|l “No colour is distinguishable in the redhot kiln of the potter but the 
red itself, till the workman introduces a small piece of dry wood; which, 
by producing a light flame, renders all the other colours visible in a 
moment.”— Darwin. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


27 


Smear’d her huge dragons with metallic hues, 

With golden purples, and cobaltic blues; 

Bade on wide hills her Porcelain castles glare, 

And glazed pagodas tremble in the air.” 

That Earthenware and Porcelain were not uncommon in Europe 
during the first century of the Christian sera, is evident from the 
discoveries that were made in the excavations of those cities 
which were destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, in the first 
year of the reign of the emperor Titus. The Romans introduced 
it into Britain ; and in the locality where the Staffordshire Pot¬ 
teries are established, were found, on sinking pits, very evident 
remains of Roman Potteries, and at a considerable depth below 
the present surface of the land. 

It is supposed also, that one of the principal Roman Potteries 
was on a small island (now sunk) at the mouth of the Thames, 
from the numerous fragments of Roman earthen utensils which 
the fishermen often find entangled in their nets. 

Holland has long been famous for the common yellow earthen¬ 
ware, called Delf\ which name it originally received from the place 
of its manufacture, viz., the town of Delft. In closing this article 
it may be observed, that England is now pre-eminent in the 
manufacture of an article, which doubtless, from the commence¬ 
ment of the world, must have engaged the attention of its inha¬ 
bitants, from its utility for all the general purposes of household 
economy, as well as for the medium of conveying down to poste¬ 
rity the progress of the arts and sciences. 

ORIGIN OF MAKING GLASS. 

Among the various productions of art, there is, perhaps, none 
so truly surprising, when we consider the materials from which 
it is formed, as that of glass. 

It is the only instance, says Parkes, in his Chemical Essays, 
that I recollect of a substance perfectly transparent, being pro¬ 
duced by the union of two dissimilar and entirely opake bodies. 
Many of the ancients who wrote on glass, seem, however, to have 
known nothing of its real nature. Agricola, lib. xii. de metallic, 
calls it a concrete juice ; Vincent BelLuascensis, lib. xi., calls it a 
stone ; and Fallopius classes it with the middle minerals. 

Different opinions have been held respecting the etymology of 
the word glass. Some have derived the word from its resemblance 
to ice {glades) , while others suppose it to be derived from glastum , 
the English woad, a vegetable which is employed in dying blue ; 
glass having generally a tinge of blue in its appearance.* 

The date of this elegant and useful invention is involved in 
great obscurity. According to Pliny, the first vessels of glass 
were made in the city of Sidon; but Loysel asserts that the 
* “ Art of Glass,” by H. Blancourt. 


TELE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


% 

glass-works of tlie Phoenicians were in high renown more than 
3,000 years ago, and that they had merely depots for the sale of 
their glass at Si don and at Tyre. The Egyptians, however, lay 
claim to having first made it, and say that they were instructed 
in the art by the great Hermes. 

Pliny attributes the invention of glass entirely to chance, and 
relates that it was first made in Syria by some mariners who 
were driven on shore on the banks of the river Belus ; and who, 
having occasion to make large fires on the sands, burnt the kali 
which abounded on that shore ; and that the alkali of the plant, 
uniting with a portion of the sand on which the fire stood, 
produced the first stream of melted glass that had ever been 
observed.* 

It is said that glass-houses were erected in Britain before it 
was visited by the Romans. This may have been the case, as 
the Phoenicians had traded with the island long before the Romans 
took possession of it: it was to the latter, however, we were 
indebted for that progress which gave the impetus to that supe¬ 
riority in the art which we possess above all other nations. 

GLASS WINDOWS. 

It is very uncertain when glass was first employed for the 
transmission of light and other optical purposes, or how long any 
of the nations of Europe have enjoyed the benefit of glass win¬ 
dows. Parkes says, the best buildings in Herculaneum had 
windows made with a sort of transparent talc. Our oldest 
English historian, Bede, says, that in the seventh century it was 
not known how to make window glass in England ; and that in 
the year 674, the abbot Benedict sent for artists from abroad to 
glaze the church and monastery of Wearmouth, in the county of 
Durham. These men probably came from Venice ; for the first 
glass that was manufactured in Europe was made there. We 
learn also from Bede, that the agents of the abbot brought seve¬ 
ral glass-makers with them when they returned, who not only 
performed the work required by Benedict, but instructed the 
English in the art of making window glass for themselves, also 
glass for lamps, and other uses. 

THE PORTLAND VASE. 

The famed Portland Vase, which we read and hear spoken of 
as a beautiful piece of antiquity, was discovered about the middle 
of the sixteenth century, inclosed in a marble Sarcophagus within 
a sepulchral chamber, under the eminence called the Monte del 
Grano, about two miles and a half from Rome, on the road to 
Frascati. This sepulchral chamber appears to have been the 

* Pliny, lib. v. cap. 19. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


29 


tomb of the Emperor Alexander Severus, and of his mother Julia 
Marannea, and the vase was no doubt a cinerary urn belonging 
to the sepulchre. It remained in the Palace of the Barbarini 
family for more than two centuries, after which it became the 
property of Sir William Hamilton, from whom it passed to the 
Duchess of Portland. In 1810, it was deposited in the British 
Museum by the Duke of Portland. In February, 1845, a young 
man, a visiter at the museum, wilfully broke the vase into several 
pieces by throwing a stone at it. The fragments of the vase were 
afterwards joined together, and the work restored far more 
successfully than could have been anticipated. The vase is formed 
of dark blue glass, relieved by figures and devices in white enamel. 
It is about ten inches in height. 

THE ETRUSCAN VASES. 

“ Etruria! next beneath thy magic hands 
Glides the quick wheel, the plastic clay expands; 

Nerved with fine touch, thy fingers (as it turns) 

Mark the nice bounds of vases, ewers, and urns; 

Round each fair form in lines immortal trace 
Uncopied beauty, and ideal grace.” 

The Etruscans, who were probably a colony from Phoenicia, are 
noted by the early writers for their excellence in the manufacture 
of porcelain. The art of painting vases in the manner of the 
Etruscans has been lost for ages, and this is supposed, by the 
author of the Dissertations on Sir William Hamilton’s Museum, 
to have happened in the time of Pliny. The honour of the 
recovery of this long lost art has been given to the late Mr. 
Wedgwood, and the term Etruscan Vase has thus been con¬ 
tinued to the present day. 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF SCULPTURE. 

Although no remains of Hebrew sculpture are known, they 
had attained to a considerable proficiency in some of the most 
difficult processes of the art, as early as the time of Moses. The 
setting up of the molten calf, and the making of the brazen serpent, 
are evidences of this.—The earliest recorded names of sculptors 
are in the Old Testament. Bezaleel the son of Uri, of the tribe 
of Judah ; and Aholiab the son of Ahasimach, of the tribe of 
Dan. (Exod. xxxv.) They were the artists appointed to make 
the ornaments of the tabernacle, and their date is therefore about 
fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. Sculpture derived 
its lustre and perfection from Greece, where Pericles and a mul¬ 
titude of other excellent sculptors laboured, in emulation of each 
other, to render sculpture honourable, by an infinite number of 
works, which have been, and will be, the admiration of all ages. 


30 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


The most eminent sculptors were Phidias, Lysippus, Praxiteles, 
Myron, Seopas, and Polycletes. The Egyptians were famous for 
their colossal statues, by whom they are generally supposed to 
have been invented. Their first monuments recorded of this 
nature were erected in honour of Moeris, king of Egypt, another 
in honour of his queen, and both were placed upon two thrones, 
supported by two pyramids, which were raised 300 feet high, in 
the middle of the lake Moeris ; so that, notwithstanding the pro¬ 
digious circumference of this lake, these two statues were con¬ 
spicuous from its banks. The most eminent of this kind was the 
Colossus of Rhodes, made in honour of Apollo by Chares, the 
disciple of Lysippus, who spent twelve years in making it; and 
after it had stood 1300 years, it was thrown down by an earth¬ 
quake. The dimensions of this statue are differently stated ; but 
all accounts admit of the fact, that one of its feet stood on one side 
of the mouth of the harbour, and the other on the opposite side, 
so that ships under sail passed between its legs. Some of the 
moderns have doubted whether there was such a statue at Rhodes 
as the Colossus above described, and, indeed, the extravagant 
dimensions ascribed to it would tempt one to doubt the truth of 
the relation ; but being mentioned by so many writers of reputa¬ 
tion, it is most probable that there was at Rhodes an image of a 
prodigious size, dedicated to the Sun, though the hyperbolical or 
figurative expressions used by some writers concerning it may 
have given occasion to others to magnify its dimensions consider¬ 
ably beyond the truth. The Chinese were also famous in this 
respect. The monstrous Colossus at Maco is reckoned among the 
rarities of that country. It is one of their principal idols or deities, 
is all of gilt copper, and is seated in a chair 70 feet high. No less 
than fifteen men, they say, can stand conveniently on its head ; 
and its other parts being proportionable, one may from thence 
form a judgment of its enormous bulk. What Diodorus says of 
the tomb of Osymandes is remarkable. It was built, says he, of 
stones, various coloured, and divided into many large apartments ; 
the greater part filled with colossal statues of men and beasts. 
In one part, the history and exploits of Osymandes was engraved 
on the walls ; in another part was seen an infinite number of 
statues representing an audience attentive to the decisions of a 
full Senate ; in the midst stood the judge ; at his feet was placed 
the volume containing the laws of Egypt, and round his neck 
was suspended, by a string, the Image of Truth with its eyes shut. 

Turning, which is a branch of sculpture, seems to have been 
of very ancient invention. Some, indeed, to do honour to the ao-e, 
will have if brought to perfection by the moderns; but if what 
Pliny, and some other ancient authors relate, be true, that the 
ancients turned these precious vases, enriched with figures and 
ornaments in relievo, which we still see in the cabinets of the 
curious, it must be owned (however great the excellence of our 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


31 


own sculptures) that all that has been added in these ages makes 
but poor amends for what we lost of the manner of turning of 
the ancients. 

Statuary is likewise a branch of sculpture, and is one of those 
arts wherein the ancients have surpassed the moderns ; insomuch, 
that it was much more popular, and more cultivated among the 
former than the latter. Phidias, we are told, was the greatest 
statuary among the ancients, and Michael Angelo undoubtedly 
among the moderns. 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PAINTING. 

The invention of painting is generally attributed to the Egyp¬ 
tians, at least as far as the four principal colours. The knowledge 
they had of chemistry seems to make this opinion certain; besides, 
the paintings still to be seen among the old remains of the 
Egyptian buildings, which have so long resisted the injuries of 
time, and which still retain a fresh and lively colouring, seem to 
put the matter beyond dispute. 

Painting, although the accurate virtuoso cannot trace it so high, 
was (according to Andrews) much used in the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries to decorate churches by the Anglo-Normans. 

The monk Gervese celebrates the beautiful paintings in the 
cathedral of Canterbury, built by Archbishop Lanfranc in the 
eleventh century; and Stubbs praises the pictured ornaments in 
the church of St. John, at Beverley, which were of a still earlier 
date. Peter of Blois satirically lashes the barons of his age (that 
of Henry II.) for causing both their shields and saddles to be 
painted with beautiful representations of combats, that they might 
satiate their eyes with the prospect of what they were too das¬ 
tardly to engage in. The illumination of books was a branch of 
miniature painting much followed by the monks, and with great 
success. The materials which these holy artists employed were 
so durable, that their missals still dazzle our eyes with the bright¬ 
ness of their colours and the splendour of their gilding. Dr. 
Heylin says, the art of painting in oil was, till lately, universally 
attributed to John Yan Eyk, a native of Maeseyk, who first mixed 
colours with linseed and walnut oil, in 1410; butHessing, a Ger¬ 
man writer, has found in Theophilus, who lived in the eleventh 
century, a passage plainly mentioning the mixture of all kinds of 
colours with oil, for the purpose of painting wood-work. One 
author, however, contends, that Theophilus had no other idea than 
that of colouring over in oil, doors, windows, and other objects 
exposed to the weather, in order to make the colour durable. 

It is certain, says he, that Cimabue, the restorer of painting in 
Italy in the thirteenth century, knew nothing of the art. Apollo- 
dorus, a native of Athens, carried painting to great perfection, 
and discovered the secret of representing to the life, and in their 
greatest beauty, the various objects of nature, not only by the 


32 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


correctness of liis design, but principally by the perfection of the 
colours, and the proper distribution of shades and lights. Zeuxis, 
the pupil of Apollodorus, carried the art much further than his 
master. Parrhasius, a native of Ephesus, was the rival of Zeuxis ; 
and to them succeeded Apelles of Cos; Aristides, the Theban; 
and Protogenes, the Rhodian; who carried the art of painting to 
the greatest perfection it ever arrived. These and others, are 
mentioned by Pliny as the most celebrated painters of antiquity. 
To them succeeded the modern school, among whom may be named 
a Guido, a Titian, a Rubens, a Raphael, a Rembrandt, an II 
Spagnoletto Ribera,* an Albert Purer, an Holbein, &c., and a 
long list of others, down to the period of a Reynolds, a David, a 
Lawrence, and a West. 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF ENGRAVING. 

It was about the year 1460 that engraving and etching on cop¬ 
per was invented. Sir Robert Strange is so interesting on this 
most secure depositary for after ages of whatever is truly great, 
elegant, or beautiful, as to deserve ample notice:— 

“No sooner had this art appeared,” observes our author, “than 
it attracted general attention. All the great painters adopted it, 
with a view of multiplying their works, and of transmitting them 
with greater certainty to posterity. Albert Durer and Andrea 
Mantegna, two of the greatest painters of that age, practised the 
art of engraving, and have left us a variety of elegant composi¬ 
tions. These early productions of the art drew, by their novelty 
and excellence, the admiration of all Italy. Raphael himself, that 
prince of painters, was particularly charmed with the works of 
Albert Durer, and, in return for some prints he had received from 
him, sent him a present of his own portrait, painted by himself. 

“ Marc Antonio, who, by studying Albert Durer’s works, had 
improved the art of engraving, was among the first who carried it 
to Rome, when the genius of the divine Raphael presided over the 
Roman school. Those who are conversant in the fine arts, know 
how much this painter encouraged engraving in Marc Antonio, 
his ingenious pupil; examine that engraver’s works and you will 
find evident proofs of it, so much does he breathe, in his finest 
prints, the spirit of his sublime author. Other painters of the 
Roman school, as well as Parmegiano, Salvator Rosa, &c., have 
transmitted to us many fine compositions in this art. 

“ The Bolognese school furnishes more recent examples. Anni¬ 
bale, and Agostino, although two of the greatest painters Italy 
ever produced, exercised the art of engraving in preference to that of 
•painting, and have thereby established to themselves, and secured 
to others, a reputation to the latest posterity. Guido, Guercino 
Simon Cantarini da Pesaro, the Siranis, &c., have all of them left 
4 * Ses “ Origin of Sign-painting in England.” 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


33 


ns many elegant prints, which are so many striking proofs of their 
having cultivated the art of engraving. 

“ To see it still in a higher degree of perfection, let us examine 
it when the school of Rubens presided in Flanders. Here we 
shall find that this great painter was no less intent upon cul¬ 
tivating this art than that of painting, conscious that by this 
means he not only diffused his reputation, but secured it to suc¬ 
ceeding generations. Bolswert, Pontius, Yosterman, &c., were the 
companions of his and Yandyck’s leisure hours. They esteemed 
one another, they lived together as friends and equals, and, to use 
the words of a late ingenious writer —Sous leurs heureuses mains 
le cuivre devient or ;—‘ Under their hands copper became gold.’ 
The works of those engravers, which are now sold at the price of 
pictures, are evident proofs of the state of the arts in those days. 

“ What numberless examples, too, have not Rembrandt, Berg- 
ham, Ostade, and others of the Dutch masters, left us of their 
desire to cultivate engravings ? Have not the works of the former, 
which are now sold at most amazing prices, transmitted a reputa¬ 
tion both to himself and to his country, which time can never 
obliterate ? The Bloemarts, the Yischers, and others, were cer¬ 
tainly ornaments to the age in which they lived. 

“ During the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth, what a number of 
great artists appeared in this profession, and did honour to France! 
The names of Gerard, Andran, Edelink, Poilly, &c., will be lasting 
ornaments to that kingdom. That magnificent prince frequently 
amused himself in this way; and so charmed was he with the 
works of the ingenious Edelink, that he conferred upon him the 
honour of knighthood. It has been owing solely to the honourable 
rank given to this art by the Royal Academy of Painting at Paris, 
that it has been cherished and cultivated to such a degree of 
excellence, that for a century past Paris has been the depositary 
of the finest productions in this way; and these have been the 
source of incredible riches to France. 

“ Let us, in the last place, follow this art into Great Britain:— 
Queen Anne, wdiose reign has been generally called the Augustan 
age of this country, was desirous of transmitting to posterity the 
Cartoons * of Raphael, which had been purchased by her grand¬ 
father, Charles the First. With this view she sent for Dorigny, 
the engraver, as this art was then but little cultivated in Bri- 
tain. 

“ The reception he met with from the queen is well known. 
She honoured him with an apartment in the royal palace of 
Hampton Court, visited-him from time to time, countenanced 
him on all occasions, and was the patroness of his undertaking. 
After her death, king George the First imitated the example of 
Anne; and upon Dorigny having completed his engravings, not 
only made him a very considerable present, but conferred upon 

* See derivation of Cartoon. 

D 


34 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


him the honour of knighthood. From the departure of this artist, 
who executed a work which will reflect lasting honour on Bri¬ 
tain, the art of engraving again relapsed into its former obscurity, 
till towards the middle of this (18th) century, when it was revived 
afresh by the introduction of other foreigners, together with the 
successful endeavours of several ingenious natives of these king¬ 
doms.” 

THE SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. 

A School, in the fine arts, denominates a certain class of artists, 
who have made it their particular study to imitate the produc¬ 
tions of some great master. 

The school of Florence is remarkable for greatness, and a gran¬ 
deur of design, bordering on the gigantic. The art of painting 
was revived in Florence about the year 1240, by Cimabue, who 
transplanted the few remaining vestiges of the art from a Greek 
artist to his own country. The works of Cimabue, though in the 
ordinary style, received the applause of his fellow-citizens, and 
in a short time the art of painting became so considerable in 
Florence, that the academy of St. Luke was founded, in which, 
however, no painters were educated until the year 1350. Andrew 
Castagna was the first Florentine artist who painted in oil. 
Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, contemporary painters, 
were esteemed the glory of the Florentine school. M. Angelo 
surpassed Leonardo in grandeur, while Leonardo was superior 
to him in the finer parts of the art. Leonardo, full of sensibility, 
was fond of expressing the sweet affections of the soul; but M. 
Angelo, not born to experience the softer passions, sought only 
to strike the imagination with terror, by the boldness and force 
of his conceptions. Michael Angelo was placed at the head of 
the school to which he belonged, and died in the year 1563. 
aged 89. 

The school of Borne was formed by Grecian artists, w r ho came 
from their own country to settle with the Bomans. By them the 
art was handed down to the moderns, who derived all their 
knowledge from studying the Greek models. 

This school is celebrated for grandeur of style, exquisite form, 
and beautiful expression. In the year 1483, Baphael Sanzio di 
Urbino was at the head of the Boman school. He excelled in 
representing philosophers, saints, virgins, and apostles. Although 
he had studied the works of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da 
Vinci, he avoided servilely imitating them. He adopted a me¬ 
dium between the exquisite pathos of Leonardo, and the fire of 
Angelo, and never advanced a step beyond the modesty of nature. 
This painter died at the early age of thirty-seven years. It is a 
very remarkable coincidence, that Baphael was born on a Good 
Friday, and died on a Good Friday ! The celebrated Cartoons 
would alone immortalize him. They will be noticed by and bye. 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


35 


The Venetian school was founded by Giorgione and Titian, 
scholars of Giovanni Bellini, who had studied the works of Do- 
menichino. A beautiful mixture of colours was the grand object 
of the Venetians in their painting. Titian, or Tiziano Vecelli, 
having never studied the ancients, supplied the deficiencies in 
his education by servilely copying the objects of nature, by 
which practice he obtained a perfect knowledge of colouring—a 
knowledge never acquired by the artists of the Florentine°and 
Roman schools. This painter was born in the year 1480, and 
died in 1576. 

The Lombard school was founded by Antonio Allegri, more 
generally known by the name of Corregio. The characteristics 
of this school are a beautiful combination of colours, an elegant 
taste for design, and a charming mellowness of pencil. 

The Caracci, Lodovico, Augustin, and Annibale, formed what 
is usually termed the second Lombard school. They established 
an academy at Bologna, called VAcademia deglia Besiderosi, in 
which was taught drawing, perspective, and anatomy. Lectures 
were also given in the various branches of the art, which were 
regularly delivered, until Annibale received an invitation from 
Cardinal Farnese to paint at Rome. The paintings of the Ca¬ 
racci, from the resemblance of their manner, are very often con¬ 
founded together; it ought, however, to be mentioned, that 
competent judges of painting may easily discover the different 
styles adopted by the three painters. 

The French school has been so fluctuating, that it is almost 
difficult to ascertain who was its principal founder. Miniature 
painting was nourished in France at a very remote period, and 
the French artists in this branch of the art, were held in liiodi 

' _ O 

estimation by the Italians. Painting languished in France 
after the death of Francis I., until the reign of Louis XIII., at 
which time it was revived by James Blanchard, who had been 
educated in the Venetian school. But Blanchard, though a good 
painter, had no hand in forming the French school. Poussin was 
a careful and correct imitator of nature; but he educated no 
pupils, and consequently did not found the French school. To 
the abilities of Vouet, perhaps, the French are indebted for the 
first formation of their school; but afterwards were still more 
indebted to the brilliant talents of Le Brun, who was the fashion¬ 
able painter of the age in which he lived. Excepting Le Brun, 
Eustace la Sueur, Poussin, and Claude Lorraine, the French 
artists possessed little to recommend their works, in which inele¬ 
gance and a certain stiffness of expression might invariably be 
found. The Count de Caylus reformed the bad taste of his coun¬ 
trymen, by directing their attention to the models of Greece and 
Rome. , 

It is needless to inform the intelligent reader, that the French 
capital is adorned with those invaluable works of art, which for- 


SG 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


merly created so mucli emulation at Florence, Rome, Turin, and 
Naples. A similar collection is now formed in this country, The 
National Gallery , which will in time, we hope, eclipse even that 
of our French neighbours. 

Germany has not had the honour of forming a regular school 
of painting. Mengs, Deitrich, Albert Durer, and Holbein, were 
Germans, and the most celebrated artists that country has pro¬ 
duced. A few solitary artists, however, will not form a school. 

The Flemish school is remarkable for great brilliancy of colour¬ 
ing, a nobleness of conception, and the magic of the chiaro obscuro. 
Oil painting was discovered, or at least practised, first in Flan¬ 
ders, by John Van Eyck, who died in 1441, aged seventy-one. 
Peter Paul Rubens was unquestionably the founder of the 
Flemish school. This person was not only an admirable painter; 
he was endowed with many excellent qualities, and esteemed a 
skilful politician. lie was ambassador from the Spanish king to 
Charles I., from whom he received the honour of knighthood. 
Rubens equally excelled in painting historical subjects, portraits, 
fruit, flowers, landscapes, and animals. The historical pictures 
of this master do not possess that sweetness of expression so pre¬ 
valent in the works of Raphael; his principal merit lay in colour¬ 
ing, though he never equalled the productions of Titian. (Sir 
P. P. Rubens was born at Antwerp in the year 1577, and died 
in 1640. 

The Dutch school may be considered as distinct from all others. 
The divine expression of Raphael, and the fire of Michael Angelo, 
are entirely disregarded by the Dutch, who have adopted a man¬ 
ner of painting practised alone within the precincts of their own 
country. Their favourite subjects are the vulgar games of the 
rudest peasantry, boors drinking and smoking, faithful repre¬ 
sentations of smiths’ workshops, with all the minutice to be found 
therein, and the depredations of banditti. If we view one of 
these subjects, painted by Teniers the younger, we may be sure 
to find it a perfect chef d'oeuvre. This artist possessed very pro¬ 
lific talents, and was beyond doubt the best painter of the man¬ 
ners of the peasantry in the Low Countries. Lucas de Leyden, 
who lived in the fifteenth century, is generally considered as the 
patriarch of the Dutch school. Van Been, Vander Hilst, Cor¬ 
nelius Poelemburg, Rembrandt, John de Laer, Van Ostade, Gerard 
Douw, Metzu, Meris, Cuyp, Wouvermans, Berghem, Vandervelde, 
and Van Huysum, were educated in the Dutch school, and have 
produced most admirable specimens of the art of painting. 

The English school did not exist until the Royal Academy in 
London was established in 1766. We had, however, many excel¬ 
lent painters long before that period, whose productions rank 
with those of the great Italian masters. Holbein, though a Ger¬ 
man, executed most of his celebrated works in this country. He 
was much encouraged by Henry VIII., and painted portraits of 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


37 


most of the English nobility. He died at his house in Whitehall, 
in the year 1554, and was buried with much solemnity. In the 
reign of James I., Cornelius Jansens arrived in England from 
Holland, and painted the king and nobility; but his talents being 
soon after eclipsed by Vandyke, he returned to his own country. 
Sir Anthony Vandyke received the first rudiments of the art 
from Vanbalen of Antwerp ; but afterwards became the pupil of 
Rubens, under whose excellent guidance he made such rapid 
progress in the art, that a portrait he painted of his master’s 
wife, even at that period, is ranked among the best of his pro¬ 
ductions. Leaving Rubens, he made the tour of Italy, and at 
his return to Antwerp, was invited to England by Charles I., by 
whom he was knighted. He married the beautiful daughter of 
Lord Rutliven, Earl of Gowrie. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great 
founder of the English school, was born at Plyrnton, near Ply¬ 
mouth, on the 16th of July, 1723, and was the pupil of Hudson. > 
In the year 1750, he went to Rome, where he remained two 
years prosecuting his studies. At his return to his own country, 
he received that patronage which was due to his extraordinary 
talents. Sir Joshua died in London, at the age of sixty-nine, and 
was buried in St. Paul’s cathedral with great funeral pomp. 

THE CARTOONS. 

These celebrated paintings arc so called from the Italian word 
cartons, a kind of pasteboard on which they are painted. While 
Raphael was in the employ of Leo the Tenth, his holiness em¬ 
ployed this distinguished painter to make designs of the Acts of 
the Apostles, for the purpose of having them copied on tapestry. 
As soon as these tapestries were completed, the Cartoons remained 
neglected at Brussels, till they were purchased by Rubens for 
Charles the First of England, and in a dilapidated state (for they 
had been cut to pieces to facilitate the work of the weavers) they 
were brought to England. In the reign of William the Third, 
the pieces were put together in a most careful manner, and a 
gallery was built at Hampton Court for their reception, where, 
after one or two removes, they are now finally deposited. 

SIGN PAINTING. 

Sign Painting is of very ancient date, and, by some, is supposed 
to have its origin prior to any other painting. Many of the 
first masters were sign painters, for instance Ribera, or II Spa- 
gnoletto,* was a sign painter, and in Cumberland’s life of him we 
are told, that a Cardinal, one day passing in his coach, observed 
a tattered figure employed in painting a board, affixed to the 
outside of one of the ordinary houses in the streets of Rome. 

* The little Spaniard. 


38 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


The youth and wretchedness of the spectacle engaged his pity, 
and the singular attention with which he pursued his work at¬ 
tracted his curiosity. It was II Spagnoletto, in the act of earning 
his bread, of which his appearance made it evident he was abso¬ 
lutely in want. 

He then proceeds to state, that the Cardinal, after some pre¬ 
liminary conversation, took him home in his coach, and ordered 
him apartments in his palace, where he pursued those studies 
that rendered him afterwards so eminent. 

Signs and sign painting were first introduced into England in 
the reign of Edward the Third, from France. London afterwards 
became famous for its signs, every shopkeeper or dealer having 
one ; indeed, extravagant sums were laid out on this then requi¬ 
site decoration. They were not then affixed to the house, but 
were placed on posts, or hung thereon on hinges, on the edge 
of the footpath. 

“ Old London’s signs did creek, creek, creek, 

For every gust of wind did make them speake.” 

We are told, that in the reign of Richard the Second, a lord 
mayor of London imported not “ cashmeres and laces,” but women, 
from Flanders, and kept stew-houses, where the dainty and 
squeamish were to deal in this kind of merchandise; and further, 
that Henry the Seventh also granted his licence to twelve bor- 
dillos or stews, having signs painted on their walls, to distinguish 
them and invite the passenger. 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE CHANDOS PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE. 

It was first in the possession of Sir William Davenant, who 
died insolvent, and afterwards of John Owen, his principal 
creditor. After his death, Betterton, the actor, bought it. 
Bettertou made no will, and died very indigent; he had a large 
collection of portraits of actors, which were bought at the sale of 
his goods by Bullfinch the printseller, who sold them to one Mr. 
Sykes. The portrait of Shakspeare was purchased by Mrs. Barry, 
the actress, who sold it afterwards, for forty guineas, to Mr. R. 
Kech. Mr. Nicol of Colney Hatch, Middlesex, marrying the 
heiress of the Kech family, this picture devolved to him. By 
the marriage of the Duke of Chandos with the daughter of Mr. 
Nicol, it became his Grace’s property, and by the marriage of 
the Duke of Buckingham into the Chandos family, for some time 
it adorned the collection at Stowe. And at the sale of the Stowe 
collection it was purchased by the Earl of Ellesmere, who kindly 
permitted it to be engraved by Mr. Cousens for the Shakspeare 
Society. A History of this interesting Picture is in course of 
preparation by that able and indefatigable Shakspearian scholar, 
Mr. J. Payne Collier. 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


39 


MUSIC. 

“ All Nature’s full of thee: the summer bower 
Itespondeth to the songster's morning lay; 

The bee his concert keeps from flower to flower, 

As forth he sallies on his honied way; 

Brook calls to brook, as down the hills they stray; 

The isles resound with song, from shore to shore; 

Whilst ‘ viewless minstrels’ on the wings that play, 

Consorted strains in liquid measures, pour 
To thunder's deep-toned voice, or ocean’s sullen roar.” 

The River Dericent. 

The origin of music is lost in the mazes of antiquity; and all 
hypotheses on the subject are very little better than mere con¬ 
jecture. The practice of this science being universal in all age 3 
and countries, it is absurd to attribute its invention to any one 
man, or any particular nation; yet, as no people can carry back 
their researches into antiquity to so early a period as the 
Egyptians, modern writers seldom attempt to trace the history 
of music beyond their era. 

Apollodorus gives us an account of the origin of music in that 
country, which we must, perhaps, only regard as a fanciful idea 
of the writer, though it is not altogether improbable. He ascribes 
the origin of the art, and the invention of the lyre, to the Hermes, 
or Mercury of the Egyptians, surnamed Trismegistus, or Thrice 
Illustrious; and who was, according to Newton, the secretary of 
Osiris. 

The Nile having overflowed its banks at the periodical period 
for the rise of that wonderful river, on its subsidence to its usual 
level, several dead animals w r ere left on the shores, and among 
the rest a tortoise; the flesh of which being dried and wasted in 
the sun, nothing remained in the shell but nerves and cartilages, 
and their being tightened and contracted by the drying heat, 
became sonorous. Mercury, walking along the banks of the 
river, happened to strike his foot against this shell, and was so 
pleased with the sound produced, that the idea of the lyre 
suggested itself to his imagination. The first instrument he 
constructed was in the form of a tortoise, and was strung with 
the sinews of dried animals. 

It is probable that vocal music was practised, or at least that 
the ancients were acquainted with the difference in the tones of 
the human voice, and its capabilities for harmony, before instru¬ 
ments were thought of; and the latter, without doubt, owed 
their origin to the observation of effects flowing from natural 
causes. Thus Diodorus, Lucretius, and other authors, attribute 
the invention of wind instruments to observations made of the 
whistling of the wind in reeds, and in the pipes of other plants. 
The different tones of sounding strings must have been observed 
Tery early, and thus have given birth to stringed instruments : 


40 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


whilst instruments of percussion, such as tabors or drums, 
probably originated from the sonorous ringing of hollow bodies 
when struck. 

In the first conception all these instruments were rude and im¬ 
perfect, and would afford little pleasure to the musician of the 
present day. Indeed, in the first effort, we can fancy the inventors 
themselves amazed at the effect produced, and starting with 
surprise or fright, 

“ E’en at the sound themselves had made.” 

The progress of improvement, however, was soon visible : and 
there cannot be a doubt, but that the music of the ancients was 
of a very high order. 

NOTATION. 

The invention of Notation, and of musical characters, is ot 
ancient date, being generally ascribed to Terpnnder, a celebrated 
poet and musician of Greece, who flourished about the 27th 
Olympiad, or 671 years before Christ. Previously, music being 
entirely traditional, must have depended much on the memory 
and taste of the performer. 

LETTERS IN MUSIC. 

Gregory the Great (as he is commonly called), about the year 
GOO, substituted the Roman letters abc, &c., as the names of 
notes, in lieu of the more complicated Greek ones; by which the 
study of the science was greatly simplified.—See Dr. Burney’s 
History of Music. 

ORIGIN OF DIVIDING MUSIC INTO BARS. 

«* 

In the 16th century, music began to be considered part of 
a polite education. In a collection called Queen Elizabeth’s 
Virginal Book, some very difficult pieces of that era are pre¬ 
served, several of which are by Tallis and Bird, two eminent 
composers of English sacred music. The English musicians of 
this period were equal to any of those on the continent; and it 
is difficult to say whether the Italian, German, or French schools, 
deserve the preference. At the beginning of this century, the 
mode of dividing music into bars appears to have been first used. 

ORIGIN OF THE DOMINANT IN MUSIC. 

The 16th century is remarkable for many improvements in the 
theory and practice of music, which have led to the present high 
state of the art. In 1590, a schoolmaster of Lombardy (Charles 
Monteverde) invented the harmony of the dominant; he was 
also the first who ventured to use the seventh and the ninth of 
the dominant, openly and without preparation ; he likewise em- 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


41 


ployed the minor fifth as a consonance, which had always before 
been used as a dissonance. The same professor introduced the 
double dissonances, and diminished and altered chords. About 
the same time L’\ iadana de Lodi conceived the idea of giving to 
the instrumental bass a different melody from that of the vocal, 
to which it had previously strictly adhered. He also invented 
the figured or thorough bass. 

CONCERTS. 

The first regular series of Concerts in England was instituted 
in the year 1710, under the title of “The Academy of Ancient 
Music,” and continued to exist upwards of eighty years. In 
1776, the Concert of Ancient Music was established in London, 
chiefly at the suggestion of the Earl of Sandwich.—An institu¬ 
tion intended to preserve the solid and valuable productions of 
the old masters from oblivion, and of which Mr. Joah Bates was 
for many years the sole conductor. 

In the year 1813, the “ Philharmonic Society” was established 
in London, with a view chiefly to the cultivation of instrumental 
music. In 1834, a Concert was founded under the name of “ The 
Society of British Musicians;” and another in 1833, called a 
“ Vocal Society,” consisting of thirty professional members, who 
gave six Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms, consisting 
almost entirely of vocal music, ancient and modern, of every 
school. 

TRUMPETS. 

The invention of the Trumpet has been ascribed to the Tyrrhe¬ 
nians ; but others, with greater probability, to the Egyptians, 
from whom it might have been transmitted to the Israelites. It 
is usually made of brass, sometimes of silver, iron, tin, and even 
wood. Moses made tw r o of silver, to be used by the priests 
(Numb, x.); and Solomon made two hundred like those of Moses 
(Josephus, lib. viii.), which shows the antiquity of this instru¬ 
ment. Among the Romans, there were various instruments of 
the Trumpet kind, as the tuba , cornua , buccina , and lituus. The 
tuba, or long trumpet, called by the Hebrews “ The Trumpet 
of the Jubilee,” may be seen in several pieces of ancient sculpture 
at Rome, particularly on the arch of Titus, or Trajan’s pillar, 
and in a basso-relievo at the Capitol, representing the triumph 
of Marcus Aurelius. In England, they were sounded before 
Offa, king of Mercia, a.d. 790. 

ORGANS. 

The origin of the Organ is obscure. "VVe read of ancient hy¬ 
draulic and pneumatic Organs, but the water must have been 
the moving power only, to impel the wind into the pipes. Of 


42 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

% 

this kind is the representation of a tree, with birds upon it, de¬ 
scribed by Gerbert, {Be Cantu et Musica Sacra, vol. ii. plate xxviii.) 
The Chronicle of Albericus adds to the singing of the birds be¬ 
fore Constantine, “ the roaring of enormous gilded artificial 
lions,” (See Gerbert, vol. ii. p. 151.) That such birds can be made, 
is certain, from Maillardet’s beautiful little artificial bird, which 
started up out of a gold snuff-box, fluttered its wings, and sang 
with a pipe so clear and loud, as to fill a large room. In later 
times, the term Organ, in a musical sense, came to signify only 
the instrument now known uuder that name. Before the tenth 
century, Organs were common in England. St. Dunstan gave 
one to the abbey of Malmesbury in the reign of Edgar. Elfeg, 
bishop of Winchester, obtained one for his cathedral in 951, 
which was the largest then known. This is alluded to by Mason 
the poet:— 

“ Twelve pair of bellows, ranged in stated row. 

Are join’d above, and fourteen more below. 

Those the full force of seventy men require, 

Who ceaseless toil, and plenteously perspire: 

Each aiding each, till all the wind be prest 
In the close confines of th’ incumbent chest, 

On which four hundred pipes in order rise, 

To bellow forth that blast the chest supplies.” 

PIANO-FORTES. 

About three centuries back, there were in use two kinds of 
instruments with key-boards, namely, the Clavitherium , of a 
square shape, having strings of cat-gut, which were vibrated by 
bits of hard leather, operated on by the inner end of the key; 
and the Clavecin , resembling the grand piano, having strings 
vibrated by plectrums of quill or hard leather. These instru¬ 
ments continued in use till Marius, in 1716, presented to the 
Academy of Sciences at Paris a Clavecin, whose strings were 
vibrated with hammers, instead of plectrums. Two years after, 
Christoforo, at Florence, introduced some further improvements. 
In 1772, Sebastian Erard made the first Piano in France; and 
in the following year Stodart patented in London a combination 
of the harpsichord and grand piano. In 1786, Gieb took out a 
patent for what is called the grasshopper action, which is still 
used for square pianos, in the dampers of which improvements 
were patented in 1794 and 1798, by Southwell. In 1809, Thom 
and Allen patented compensation metallic tubes, which were 
adopted by Stodart in the grand piano. Broadwood, Collard, 
Kirkman, Stewart, and Wornum, have contributed to the im¬ 
provement of this instrument. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


43 


ITALIAN OPERA. 

To the close of the 16th, and the beginning of the 17th centu¬ 
ries, the invention of the recitative, or recited music, which gave 
to the lyric drama a peculiar language and construction, is 
ascribed. 

Mr. Burgh, in his Anecdotes of Music, gives the following account 
of the origin of this species of composition:—“ Persons of taste 
and letters in Tuscany, being dissatisfied with every former at¬ 
tempt at perfecting dramatic poetry and exhibitions, determined 
to unite the best Lyric Poet with the best Musician of their time. 
Three Florentine noblemen, therefore, Giovanni Bardi, Count of 
Vernio, Petro Strozzi, and Jacobi Corsi, Ml enlightened lovers 
of the fine arts, selected Ottavio Rinuccini and Jacobo Peri, their 
countrymen, to write and set to music the drama of Dafne, which 
was performed in the house of Signior Corsi, in 1597, with great 
applause; and this seems the true era, whence we may date the 
Opera, or Drama, wholly set to music, and in which the dialogue 
was neither sung in measure, nor declaimed without music, but 
recited in simple musical notes, which amounted not to singing, 
and yet was different from the usual mode of speaking.” After 
this successful experiment, Rinuccini wrote Eurydice and Ariana, 
two other similar dramas. 

In the same year, Emilio del Cavaliere composed the music to 
an opera called Ariadne, at Rome; and the friends of this com¬ 
poser, and of Peri, respectively lay claim to the honour of the 
invention of recitative for each of these artistes. The Euiydice 
of Peri was, however, the first piece of the kind performed in 
public; its representation taking place at the theatre, Florence, 
in 1600, on the occasion of the marriage of Henry IV. of France 
with Mary de Medicis; and Pietro del Velle, a Roman knight, 
an amateur musician, who, in 1640, published an able historical 
disquisition on the science, expressly says, the first dramatic 
action * ever represented at Rome, was performed at the Carnival 
of 1606, on his cart, or movable stage; when five voices, or five 
instruments, the exact number an ambulent cart would contain, 
were employed. Thus, it seems the first secular drama in mo¬ 
dern Rome, like the first tragedy in ancient Greece, was exhibited 
in a cart! 

The Italian Opera has undoubtedly given a great impulse to 
English dramatic music. The first of this species of composition 
which was performed in England, was Arsinoe , in 1705. An 
English version, set to music by Thomas Clayton, one of the 
royal band, in the reign of William and Mary, was then pre¬ 
sented. 

The translation was bad, and the music execrable ; yet this 
drama was performed twenty-four times in the first, and eleven 
in the second year. 

* Of course, the secular drama is here meant. 


44 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

TIIE TROUBADOURS. 

“ When the cloth was ta’en away. 

Minstrels straight began to play, 

And Avhile Harps and Viols join, 

■ Raptured Bards, in strains divine, 

Loud the trembling arches rung 
With the noble deeds we sung.” 

In tlie eleventh century, the Troubadouys made their appear¬ 
ance in Provence. They were the founders of modern versifica¬ 
tion ; frequently singing their own songs to the melody of their 
own harps ; and when they were not able to do the latter, min¬ 
strels accompanied them, who recited the lays the Troubadour 
composed. Though in every country wherever there is a language, 
there is poetry, and wherever there is poetry, there is music ; 
and in our own in particular, singing to the harp appears t# have 
been early and successfully cultivated, yet the melodies were 
purely traditional; and the most ancient melodies extant, that 
have been set to a modern language, are those which are pre¬ 
served in the Vatican Library, to the songs of the Troubadours, 
written in the ancient dialect of Provence. In the 12th, 13th, 
and part of the 14th centuries, the minstrels, bards, or jongleurs, 
the descendants of the Troubadours, occupied a conspicuous 
station in society. In our own country there were king’s min¬ 
strels and queen’s minstrels, who enjoyed a high degree of favour 
and protection. 

Yet, in some of the satires of the times, we find them abused 
under the names of chant ier, fableeir, jangleeirs , and menestre ; 
whilst their art is called janglerie, and they are said to be Anti- 
Christ perverting the age by their merry jangles. Piers Plough¬ 
man, an ancient satirist, also accuses the minstrels of debauching 
the minds , of the people, and of being tutors of Idleness and the 
devil’s discourse ; and that they did imbibe some of the general 
licentiousness which, at the era of the Conquest, and for some 
time before, and some time after, overspread all England, is not 
unlikely. But for several reigns they were favoured by the 
noble and the fair, and protected by royal authority. In their 
baronial mansions, on all occasions of high and solemn feasts, the 
observances of chivalry and the charms of music were united. 

In the reign of Henry III. we find one Henry de Auranches, 
a Frenchman, dignified with the title of Master Henry, the versi¬ 
fier : which appellation, Mr. Warton observes, perhaps implies a 
character different from the royal minstrel, or joeulator. In 
1249, and in 1251, we find orders on the treasurer to pay this 
Master Henry one hundred shillings, probably a year’s stipend ; 
and in the same reign, forty shillings and a pipe of wine were 
given to Richard, the king’s harper, and a pipe of wine to Bea¬ 
trice, his wife. In time, a gross degeneracy appears to have 
characterised the once-famed order of minstrels: the sounder 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


45 


pnrt of society pursued them with prohibitions and invectives, 
till they were at last driven from the more respectable walks of 
life to the lower orders. Their irregularities became the more 
rude and offensive, till their order expired amid the general 
contempt of an improving nation.— Turner’’s History of England, 
vol. i. p. 432. 

The history of the Troubadours and the Provencal Poets has 
formed the subjects of many valuable publications of late years. 
In France, M. Baynouard has published not only a selection of 
their best writings under the title of Choix de s’ Poesies des Trou¬ 
badours, but also a Glossary of the Language in which they are 
written. M. Fauriel has also published in three vols. Svo, llis- 
toire de la Poesie Provenqale. While in Germany, an accomplished 
M. Dier has given to the world both an Essay on their Poetry, 
and a volume on the lives and writings of the most distinguished 
Troubadours. Of the German Troubadours, or Minnesingers, the 
late Mr. Edgar Taylor published an interesting account in his 
Lays of the Minnesingers ; and in 183S, Professor von der Hagen 
of Berlin, published a collection of their writings under the title 
of Deutsche Liederdichter des 12, 13, and 14 Jahrhunderts. 


COMMERCE, USE OE MONEY, COINS, BANKING SYSTEM, INTERNAL 

NAVIGATION, &c. 


ORIGIN OF COMMERCE, AND USE OF MONEY. 

The few wants of men in the first state of society, were supplied 
by barter in its rudest form. In barter the rational considera¬ 
tion is, what is wanted by the one, and what can be spared by 
the other. But savages are not always so clear-sighted. A 
savage who wants a knife will give for it any thing that is less 
useful to him at the time, without considering his future wants. 
But mankind improve by degrees, attending to what is wanted 
on the one side, and to what can be spared on the other. 

Barter, in its original form, proved miserably deficient when 
men and their wants multiplied. That sort of commerce could 
not be carried on at a distance ; and even among neighbours 
it does not always happen, that the one can spare what the other 
■wants ; it was necessary, therefore, that some commodity should 
be found in general estimation, that would be gladly accepted in 
exchange for every other, and which should be neither bulky, 
expensive in keeping, nor consumable by time. Gold and Silver 




46 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


are metals that possess these properties in an eminent degree ; 
and are also divisible into small parts, convenient to be given for 
goods of small value. 

Gold and silver, when first introduced into commerce, were 
bartered like other commodities, by bulk merely; but shortly, 
instead of being given loosely by bulk, every portion was weighed 
in scales, but weight was no security against mixing base metals 
with gold and silver. To prevent that fraud pieces of gold and 
silver are impressed with a public stamp, vouching both the purity 
and the quantity; and such pieces are called Coin. 

This was an improvement in commerce, and at first probably 
deemed complete. It was not foreseen, that these metals wear by 
much handling in the course of circulation, and consequently, that 
in time the public stamp is reduced to be a voucher of the purity 
only, not of the quantity. This embarrassment was remedied by 
the use of paper-money; and paper money is attended with 
another advantage, that of preventing the loss of much gold and 
silver by wearing. 

When gold or silver, in bullion, was exchanged with other com¬ 
modities, such commerce passed under the common name of 
barter, or permutation: when current coin was exchanged, such 
commerce was termed the buying and selling; and the money 
exchanged was termed the price of goods. 

The Phoenicians were the earliest people who are recorded to 
have devoted themselves to commerce. It seems they performed 
long voyages, and established colonies in remote countries, like 
the moderns. The Greeks and Homans were not insensible of 
the value of commerce, and they pursued it at different periods 
with eagerness and success. The Venetians, from the year 900 to 
1500, enjoyed a monopoly of the produce of the East, and thereby 
became a wealthy and powerful people. The Genoese proved 
their rivals; but certain free towns of Germany, called Hanse 
Towns, afterwards disputed with the Italians the palm of com¬ 
merce. The Portuguese, on discovering a new route to India, by 
the Cape of Good Hope, became for a time a considerable com¬ 
mercial people; but the Dutch drove them from their India 
possessions, and for a century carried on half the trade of the 
world. The English, however, have taken the lead of all other 
nations; and by means of their invincible fleets, their free con¬ 
stitution, their domestic agriculture and manufactures, and their 
valuable colonies in every sea, they have nearly engrossed the 
commerce of the world to themselves. 

Money as a medium of commerce is first mentioned in Genesis 
xxiii., when Abraham purchased a field as a sepulchre for 
Sarah, a.m. 2139. Money, which is sometimes said to have been 
first made at Argos, 894 years b.c., increased eighteen times 
in value from 1290 to 1789, and twelve times its value from 1530 
to 1789. Silver has increased thirty times its value since the 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


47 


Norman Conquest; viz, a pound in that age was three times the 
quantity it is at present, and ten times its value in purchasing 
any commodity. 

ORIGIN OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IN ENGLAND. 

The origin of all weights and measures in England, was derived 
from a corn of wheat, (vide Statutes of 51 Henry III., 31 Edward 
I., 12 Henry VII.) which enacted, that 32 of them, well dried and 
gathered from the middle of the ear, were to make one penny¬ 
weight ; but it was subsequently thought better to divide the 
dwt, in 24 equal parts, called grains. All measures of capacity, 
both liquid and dry, were at first taken from Troy-weight, and 
several laws were passed in the reign of Henry III. enacting, that 
8 lbs. Troy of wheat, taken from the middle of the ear, and well 
dried, should make one gallon of Wine measure. The standard 
Wine Gallon, which was kept sealed at Guildhall, was generally 
reckoned to contain 231 cubic inches; but Dr. Wybard, in his 
Tectometry, having asserted that it did not contain more than 
224 or 225 cubic inches, an experiment was made, May 25th, 
1688, to ascertain the fact. The Commissioners of Excise caused 
a vessel to be made in form of a parallelopipedon, each side of its 
base was 4 inches, and its depth 14 inches, so that its just content 
was 224. In presence of the Lord Mayor, the Commissioners of 
the Excise, the Rev. Mr. Flamstead (Astronomer-Royal), Mr. 
Halley, and several other eminent mathematicians, this vessel 
was very exactly filled with water, and being carefully emptied 
into the Standard Wine Gallon, did so accurately fill it, that all 
present were fully convinced it contained only 224 cubic inches. 
However, it was not thought convenient to alter the supposed 
content of 231, and accordingly the error continued until the 
recent introduction of the new Imperial Gallon. The old Beer or 
Ale Gallon of 282 cubic inches, was intended to bear the same 
proportion to Avoirdupois-weight as the Wine did to Troy; for 
it was founded by several nice experiments, that the 1 lb. Avoirdu¬ 
pois was equal to 14 oz. 11 dwts. 15^ grs. Troy; being very near 
14 oz. and six tenths. Hence 12: 231 :: 14-6 to 281,05, and by a 
trial of the Standard Ale Quart, kept in the Exchequer, (12 
Charles II.), it was found to contain just 70j cubic inches, and 
consequently the gallon = 70^ X 4 = 282. The old Dry or Corn 
Gallon was originally meant to bear a mean (or nearly so) 
between the Wine and Beer Gallon; it was, previous to 1697, 
computed to hold 272^ cubic inches; but a statute made in that 
year enacted, the Winchester Bushel should be round, with a 
plain and even bottom, 18|- inches throughout, and 8 inches deep; 
consequently, it contained 215,042 cubic inches for the old legal 
Corn Gallon. Weights and measures were invented 869 b.c. ; fixed 
to a standard in England, 1257; regulated, 1492; equalized, 1826. 


48 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ALMANACS. 

Almanacs are said to have originated with the Northern 
Nations, who formerly used to engrave, or cut upon square 
sticks about a foot in breadth, the courses of the moon of the 
whole year; whereby they could tell when the new moons and 
changes should appear, as also their festival days; and this they 
called an Al-mon-aght , that is to say, all must heed. The more 
correct etymology is, however, unquestionably from the Arabic al, 
the article, and mana or manah to count. 

They were first published by Martin Ilkus, at Luda in Poland, 
in 1470; compiled by Muller, in their present form, 1473; the 
Stationers’ Company of London claimed an exclusive right to 
publish them till 1779 ; and a million annually at one time are 
said to have been sold. For some curious particulars of the 
contents of the earlier almanacs, see the Companion to the 
Almanac for 1829. 


COIN. 

At the Conquest, the little coined silver that we had, bore the 
same countenance with that which had been current in the days 
of our Saxon kings ; for the Conqueror’s penny is of the same 
size as them, presenting his head full-faced, a cross in his right 
hand, and a sceptre in his left, inscribed Willem Rex Anglo. On 
the reverse, an arms fleire'e , with four sceptres quarterly, the 
inscription Jesthn on Herefor. Stowe says, the conqueror, as he 
appeared on his coins, wanted a beard, and quotes William of 
Malmesbury to prove that the Normans never wore any ; he 
also mentions, that some of the conqueror’s coins had Le Rey 
Wilam inscribed on them, though all that are now attributed to 
him have either the simple style of Rex, or witli the addition of 
An or Angolo. It is presumed that the coinage of money in this 
fashion, was one of the improvements which the Norman court 
received from our Edward the Confessor, who by their own 
writers is acknowledged to have taught them a great many 
English customs. All great sums were paid at this time by 
weight; thus, the monks of Ely paid the king 700 marks; and 
Edgar Atheling’s allowance was a pound of silver daily (1074). 
The purveyances were even changed into money, and the sheriff 
collected them in the following proportions. Instead of 

Bread for 100 men, one shilling. 

One pasture-fed ox, one shilling. 

A ram, or sheep, four pence. 

Provender for 20 horses, four pence. 

But when these little contributions were thus gathered, the 
collectors still paid the gross sums into the exchequer by weight. 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


49 


ORIGIN OF GOLD COIN IN ENGLAND. 

The first gold coins on record were struck by Henry III., a.d. 
1257, and were called gold pennies, weighing as much as two 
silver pence, and passing for twenty-pence. The next gold 
coinage was that of the florin (from Florence) in 1354, called also 
abroad the guelder , or golden piece. Of the old gold standard, 
the principal coins were nobles , of 6s. 8 d. value ; half and quarter, 
or farthing nobles, as they were called ; marks, of 13s. 4 d. value ; 
angels of 10s., and sovereigns of 20s. each. 

Guineas were first coined in the reign of Charles II., and were 
thus named, because the gold was brought from Guinea. 

Shillings were first coined in England, in the reign of Henry 
VII., in the year 1501. Crowns and Half Crowns in 1552. The 
first legal copper coin was made in the reign of James I., in 1609, 
prior to which private leaden tokens were in general circulation. 

Penny pieces, and Twopenny, of copper, were first coined in 
England, 1794. 


COINS OF EDWARD VI. 

The following is the description of the current money of that 
reign. King Edward’s Silver Crown-piece, coined at York. It 
had the king’s figure at full length, on horseback, in full armour, 
crowned, and holding a drawn sword at his heart. The horse 
is adorned with large embroidered trappings, with a plume of 
feathers on the head, and the date under him. The Mint mark 
is y, and it is circumscribed with these words :— Edward vi. d.g. 
agl., fra. z. hibr. rex. The reverse like that of the shilling. 

The Sovereign, struck in the sixth year of his reign, had the 
profile figure of his majesty in armour, crowned, holding a drawn 
sword in his right hand, and the orb in his left. The Mint 
marked a tun over the royal head, circumscribed with these 
words:— Edward vi. e. g. agl. fran. z. hib. rex. The reverse 
had the arms crowned, and the like supporters as his father, with 
E. R. on the pedestal, and the following motto:— jhs, avtem, 

TRANS1ENS PER, MEDIUM, ILLORY, IBAT. 

The base shilling of Edward VI., coined at York. The Mint 
mark y, the head in profile, crowned with the legend, Edward 
vi. d. g. agl. fra. z. hib. rex. On the reverse, Timor, domini, 

FONS VITE, M.D.XL1X. 

The Half-Sovereign, coined in his third year. It has the king’s 
bust in armour, bareheaded, circumscribed scutum fidei protegit 
eum —a rose between each word, and a rose the Mint mark. On 
the reverse the arms in a shield, crowned, between the initial 
letters e. r., with the title circumscribed as above. 

The fine Shilling of Edward VI. It bore the king’s bust, full- 
faced, crowned, and in his parliamentary robes, with a chain of 
the order. On one side of the head is a large double rose, and 

E 


50 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


on the other the figures xn., denoting the value, with the title, 
as above, in old English characters. The Mint mark y, n. b. 
This is the first English coin on which we see the Collar of the 
Order of flic Gr^rtcr* 

The Sixpence of his third year, of the York Mint. The Mint 
mark y. On the obverse is the king’s bust in armour, crowned, 
and labelled with the regal title. On the reverse, are the royal 
arms in an oval shield, garnished and crowned, with the motto, 
SCUTUM, FIDEI, PROTEGIT, EUM. 

The Noble was also in use in this reign, as an appropriate 
attendant on the Sovereign. 

INTEREST OF MONEY 

Was 2 d. per week for 20s. in 1260 ; 45 per cent., 1307 ; the 
first law in England for establishing interest of money at 10 per 
cent, was in 1546. The pious subjects of Edward VI. repealed 
this law as unlawful and most impious; but it was restored in 
queen Elizabeth’s time. In those days the monarchs could not 
borrow without the collateral security of the metropolis. Interest 
was reduced from 10 to 8 per cent., 1624 ; reduced by the Rump 
parliament to 6 per cent., and confirmed at the Restoration ; to 
5 per cent., 1714 ; from 4 to 3 per cent., 1750. Interest of the 
National Debt reduced, 1749, 1823. 

VALUE OF LABOUR AND MONEY IN EARLY TIMES. 

In the year 1352, in the 25th of Edward III., wages paid to 
haymakers was 1 d. per day ; a mower of meadows, 3 d. or 5d. an 
acre ; reapers of corn, first week in August 2d., in the second 3d. 
per day, and so on till the end of August, without meat, drink, 
or other allowance, finding their own tools. For thrashing a 
quarter of wheat or rye, 2 \d. ; a quarter of barley, beans, peas, 
or oats, 1 \d. A master carpenter, 3d. a day ; other masons 3d., 
and servants, 1|<7. Tilers 3d., and their knaves \%d. Thatchers, 
3d. per day, and their knaves, 1 \d. Plasterers, and other workers 
of mud walls, and their knaves in like manner, without meat or 
drink, and this from Easter till Michaelmas ; and from that time 
less, according to the direction of the justices. 

About the year 900, king Alfred left to each of his daughters 
£100 in money. In 1221, Joan, eldest daughter to king John, 
upon her marriage with Alexander, king of Scotland, had a 
dowry of £1000. In 1278, Edward I. gave his daughter J oan, 
contracted to the son of the king of the Romans, 10,000 marks 
sterling, and this to be returned in case the prince died before 
her. In 1314, Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, 
being imprisoned in England, was allowed for herself and family, 
20s. per week. In 1330, Joan of Oxford, nurse to the Black 
Prince, had a pension of £10 per annum; and Maud Plumpton, 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


51 


a rocker, had 10 marks. In 1402, the salary of the Lord Chief 
Justice of the King’s Bench, was £40. In 1408, the Lord Chief 
Justice of the Common Pleas, had 55 marks per annum. In 
1545, the former had an addition of £30 to his salary, and the 
other justices of £20. 

STERLING. 

Origin of the term as applied to money. 

In the time of Richard I., money coined in the East part of 
Germany came in special request in England, on account of its 
purity, and was called Easterling Money, as all the inhabitants 
of those parts were called Easterlings; and soon after some of 
these people, skilled in coining, were sent for to London, to bring 
the coin to perfection, which was soon called Sterling , from East¬ 
erling. King Edward I. established a certain standard for the 
silver coin of England ; but no gold was coined until the reign of 
Edward III., who in the year 1320 caused several pieces to be 
coined, called Florences, because they were coined by Florentines. 
Afterwards he coined Nobles, then Rose Nobles, current at 
6s. 8 d., Half Nobles at 3s. 4c?., called Halfpennies of gold; and 
Quarters at Is. 8 cl., called Farthings of gold. The succeeding 
kings coined Rose Nobles, and Double Rose Nobles, Great Sove¬ 
reigns, and Half Henry Nobles, Angels, and Shillings. James I. 
coined Unites, Double Crowns, and Britannia Coins, Shillings, 
and Sixpences. Charles II. converted most of the ancient gold 
coins into guineas. 

BOARD WAGES. 

Board Wages first commenced in England with king Charles I.’s 
servants, in 1629. 

INSURANCE OF SHIPS, &c. 

Insurance on ships and merchandise, Suetonius conjectures, was 
contrived by Claudius in 43. Insurance on shipping began in 
England, in 1560. Insurance offices in London, 1696. 

RENT 

Was first made payable in money, instead of kind, in 1136. 

FIGURES IN ARITHMETIC 

Were introduced into Europe from Arabia, 991, and into Eng¬ 
land in 1253. 


ALGEBRA 

Was first introduced into Europe in 1300, and became in 
general use in 1590. Numerical algebra was invented in 950, 
and first known in Europe in 1494; letters were first used in 
algebra in 1590. 



52 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


LAC OF RUPEES. 

A Rupee is an Indian coin of silver, of 2 s. 3 d. and 2,9. 6c/., and 
a lac signifies nothing more than a certain amount, say about 
£12,500 sterling. 

DIAMONDS. 

Diamonds were first cut and polished at Bruges, in 1489. Dia¬ 
mond mines discovered at Golconda, 1584; atCoulour, 1640; and 
at Brazil in 1730. 

The weight of diamonds is estimated in carats, 150 of which 
are equal to one ounce Troy. The average price of rough dia¬ 
monds is about £2 per carat. 

According to this estimate, a wrought diamond, three carats, is 
worth £72, and one of 100 carats, £80,000. The largest diamond 
probably ever heard of, is one mentioned by Tavernier, who saw 
it in the possession of the Great Mogul. It was about as big as 
a hen’s egg, and weighed 900 carats in the rough. The largest 
diamond ever brought to Europe, is one now in the possession of 
the sovereign of Russia. It weighs 195 carats, and was long 
employed as the eye of a Braminical idol. A French soldier 
discovered the value of the gem, and changed his religion, wor¬ 
shipping at the altar of the god, that he might deprive him of 
his splendid eye. At length he succeeded in substituting a piece 
of glass for the diamond, and again became a good Christian! 
After passing through several hands, the empress Catherine at 
length fixed it in the possession of the Russian crown, giving for 
it £90,000, and a perpetual annuity of £1000. It is cut in the 
rose form, and is the size of a pigeon’s egg. One of the most 
beautiful is the Pitt Diamond, which is a brilliant, and weighs 
rather more than 136 carats. It was brought from India by a 
gentleman of the name of Pitt, and purchased by the Duke of 
Orleans, who placed it in the Crown of France, where it still 
remains. The celebrated Pigot Diamond is in the possession of 
Rundell and Co. 

INTERNAL NAVIGATION IN ENGLAND. 

It was so late as the year 1720, when inland navigation com¬ 
menced in England, by the deepening of the rivers Mersey and 
Irwell. The carrying trade between Manchester and Liverpool, 
was then performed principally by gangs of pack-horses. The 
owners of these horses of course alleged, that their rights would 
be invaded, and their profits diminished, by the new 7 navigation; 
though whether they presented petitions to parliament, complain¬ 
ing of the infringement, and praying that the proprietors might 
not be allowed to proceed (continues the Leeds Mcreury ), is more 
than we can say; but supposing this had been done, and that 
parliament in its wisdom had determined to protect the vested 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


53 


interests of these ancient carriers from invasion; and allowing 
further, that the intercourse between Manchester and Liverpool 
had continued to increase till it had obtained its present magni¬ 
tude of 1000 tons a day, the consequence would have been, that 
the inhabitants of Lancashire would have had to maintain upon 
the road alone Forty Thousand Pack-horses, which would, when 
in marching order, have formed a continuous line, in close array, 
of upwards of eighty miles. 

PAWNBROKERS’ BALLS. 

The three balls, as a Pawnbroker’s Sign, dates its origin from 
the Lombards, the great money-lenders, who came from Lom¬ 
bardy and settled here. The greatest of these traders in money 
were the celebrated, and eventually princely house of the Medici 
of Florence. They bore pills on their shield (and those pills, as 
usual then, were gilded,) in allusion to the professional origin 
from whence they had derived the name of Medici; and their 
agents in England and other countries put their armorial bear¬ 
ings over their doors as their sign, and the reputation of that 
house induced others to put up the same sign. 

It has been wittily remarked, that the Three Balls intimate, 
that it is two to one against your redeeming what you pledge! 

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE BANKING SYSTEM. 

The Trapezitm of the Greeks, and Argentarii or Nummularii 
of the Homans, were persons who lent money upon usury, kept 
the accounts of other usurers, and exchanged worn for new money, 
for a profit, but did not deal in cheques, drafts, &c. 

Beckmann, however, says, that they did pay money by a bill, 
which process was termed prcescribere and rescribere , and the 
assignment or draft attributia, and dealt besides in exchanges 
and discounts. Philip the Fair, in 1304, ordered a bank to be 
held upon the great bridge of Paris; and they had booths and 
tables before church doors, &c., called mensce combiatorum (our 
Scriptural Tables of the Money Changers), stands at fairs for 
changing money, &c. They were obliged to give security in pro¬ 
perty, and were formed into guilds. * We had had a set of them 
called Caursini, from the family Caursini at Florence, it being 
agreed that, however divided, they should take the name of that 
family, penes quam summa mercatura erat. All the Italian mer¬ 
chants who practised usury, were called Lombards; hence our 
Lombard Street, t 

The draft of one banker upon another, and the cheque, occur 
in Rymer. The deposit of money to be let out at interest, is a 
practice of the Roman Argentarii, who exercised their trade in 

* See article on Guild. f See article on Lombard Street. 


54 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


the Forum, under the inspection of the town magistrate; and' 
when they ceased to show themselves, their bankruptcy was de¬ 
clared by these words, foro cessit. — Foshroke's Encyclopaedia. 

Such is the ancient history of bankers; with regard to modern 
times, Pennant says, regular banking by private people resulted 
in 1643, from the calamity of the time, when the seditious spirit 
was incited by the acts of the parliamentary leaders. The mer¬ 
chants and tradesmen, who before trusted their cash to their 
servants and apprentices, found that no longer safe, neither did 
they dare to leave it in the Mints at the Tower, by reason of the 
distresses of majesty itself, which before was a place of public de¬ 
posit. In the year 1645, they first placed their cash in the hands 
of goldsmiths, who began publicly to exercise both professions. 
Even in my days, continues Pennant, were several eminent 
bankers who kept the goldsmith’s shop, but they were more fre¬ 
quently separated. The first regular banker was Mr. Francis 
Child, goldsmith, who began business soon after the Restoration. 
He was the father of the profession, a person of large fortune, 
and most respectable character. He married between the years 
1665 and 1675, Martha, only daughter of Robert Blanchard, 
citizen and goldsmith, by whom he had twelve children. Mr. 
Child was afterwards knighted. He lived in Fleet Street, where 
the shop still continues in a state of the highest respectability. 
Mr. Granger, in his Biographical History , mentions Mr. Child as 
successor to the shop of Alderman Backwel, a banker in the time 
of Charles II., noted for his integrity, abilities, and industry, who 
was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer, in 1672. His 
books were placed in the hands of Mr. Child, and still remain in 
the family. The next ancient shop was that possessed by Messrs. 
Snowe and Benne, a few doors to the west of Mr. Child’s, who 
were goldsmiths of consequence in the latter part of the same 
reign. Mr. Gay celebrates the predecessor of these gentlemen, 
for his sagacity in escaping the ruins of the fatal year 1720, in 
his Epistle to Mr. Thomas Snow, goldsmith, near Temple Bar. 

To the west of Temple Bar, the only one was that of Messrs. 
Middleton and Campbell, goldsmiths, who flourished in 1622, and 
is now continued with great credit by Mr. Coutts. From thence 
to the extremity of the western end of the town, there was none 
till the year 1756, when the respectable name of Backwel rose 
again, conjoined to those of Darel, Hart, and Croft, who with 
great reputation opened their shop in Pall Mall. 

BANK OF ENGLAND. 

This national bank was first established in 1694, in the reign 
of William and Mary. It was projected by one Paterson, and 
its original capital was <£1,200,000. The style of the firm is The 
Governor and Company of the Bank of England. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


55 


SAVINGS’ BANKS. 

The origin of these valuable institutions has been attributed 
to the Rev. Joseph Smith of Wendover, who, in 1799, circulated 
proposals to the inhabitants of his parish, to receive from Two¬ 
pence upwards, every Sunday evening during the summer months, 
and to repay at Christmas the amount of the deposit, with the 
addition of one-third as a bounty. The next institution was 
established in 1804, at Tottenham, in Middlesex, by Mrs. Priscilla 
Wakefield; and from that period the system has gradually risen 
to its existing importance. 

EAST INDIA COMPANY. 

The East India Company of England was first established in 
1600; their stock then consisting of £72,000, when they fitted 
out four ships ; and, meeting with success, they have continued 
ever since; India Stock sold from 360 to 500 per cent., 1683; a 
new company was established, 1698 ; the old one re-established, 
and the two united, 1700; agreed to give government £400,000 
per annum, for four years, on condition that they might continue 
unmolested, 1769; in great confusion, and applied to parliament 
for assistance, 1773; judges sent from England to administer the 
laws there, by the government, April 2nd, 1774; Board of Con¬ 
trol instituted, 1784; Charter renewed, 1813. Some alterations 
in the constitution and administration of the Company were 
effected by the Act 3 and 4 William IV., c. 85, which passed 
28tli August, 1833. 


DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 


MANUFACTURE OF EDGE TOOLS. 

Parkes, in his Essay on Edge Tools , says the history of the 
invention of edge tools is involved in much obscurity. The mate¬ 
rials employed by the ancients for making them were various; 
but the metal in general use in modern times, and among civilized 
nations, for the fabrication of such instruments, is iron, though 
this metal varies in its nature, and is differently prepared ac¬ 
cording to the purposes to which the instrument or weapon is 
applicable. 

Although iron was known before the deluge, yet there is reason 
to believe that the method of making it was afterwards lost. 
Tubal Cain, who lived nearly 4000 years before the commence- 


I 




56 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ment of the Christian era, was “ an instructor of every artificer 
in brass and iron;”* and we are told that Abraham took a 
knife to slay his son Isaac. + In these early times mention is also 
made of shears, and of shearing of sheep and yet many of the 
ancient nations knew nothing of iron, but used stones, flints, the 
horns and bones of various animals, the bones and shells of fish, 
reeds, and thorns, for every purpose in which the moderns now 
use edge tools of iron and steel. 

Hesiod, who probably lived a thousand years before the time 
of Christ, says plainly, that the ploughshare was made with a 
species of very hard oak; and from his manner of describing the 
ploughs that were then employed, there is no reason to suppose 
that any iron was used in constructing them. The following is 
Elton’s translation of the passage:— 

“ If hill or field supply an ilex bough, 

Of bending figure like the downward plough, 

Bear it away; this durable remains, 

While thy strong steers in ridges clear the plains; 

If with firm nails thy artists join the whole, 

Affix the share-beam, and adapt the pole.” 

Though the Britons had some iron when they were first invaded 
by the Romans, yet, as Csesar observes, “ they had it only in small 
quantities, hardly sufficient for home consumption, and none to 
spare for exportation.” But after the Romans had been some 
time settled in this island, this most useful metal became very 
plentiful, and made a part of the British exports. 

On the arrival of the Saxons in Great Britain, our ancestors 
were still in a low state of civilisation. One of their laws enacts, 
that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not 
make one; and that the cords with which it is drawn should be 
formed of twisted willows. || 

From this period edge tools gradually made their appearance, 
but centuries elapsed, even in Britain, or England as it is now 
called, before they were brought to any kind of perfection. We 
read but little of swords in the beginning of the 15th century, 
though no doubt they were then in use, since there is the evidence 
of Geoffrey Chaucer, who died only two years before the memo¬ 
rable battle of Hamilton was fought, that Sheffield was, even then, 
famous for its cutlery:— 

“ A dagger hanging at his belt he had, 

Made of an ancient sword’s well-tempered blade; 

He wore a Sheffield whittle in his hose.”§ 

Chronology informs us, iron was first discovered by the burning 
of Mount Ida, 1406 b. c. In England by the Romans, soon after 
the landing of Julius Csesar. First discovered in America, in 

* Genesis iv. 22. f Ibid. xxii. 10. \ Ibid, xxxviii. 12, 13. 

|| Leges Wallicue, p. 283. § Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


57 


Virginia, 1715. First cast in England, at Blackstead, Sussex, 
1544. 

KNIVES. 

It is difficult to ascertain the date of the introduction of every 
kind of cutting or pointed instruments ; but when the utility and 
convenience of these domestic implements were once experienced, 
there can be no doubt that the practice of using them quickly 
became very general, and that manufactories of knives and other 
edge tools were consequently soon established in various parts 
of the kingdom. Table knives were first made in London in the 
year 1563, by one Thomas Matthews of Fleet Bridge. They 
were probably not in use in the time of Chaucer. 

FORKS. 

Neither the Greeks nor the Romans have any name for forks; 
they were not used by the ancients; they used the ligula , similar 
to our spoons. Formerly, persons of rank kept in their houses a 
carver. The Chinese use no forks, but have small sticks of ivory, 
of very beautiful workmanship, inlaid with gold and silver. The 
use of forks was first known in Italy towards the end of the 
fifteenth century, but at that time they were not very common. 

In France, at the end of the sixteenth century, even at Court, 
they were entirely new. Coryate, the traveller, is said to be the 
first person who used forks in England, on which account, says 
Beckmann, he was called, by way of joke, Furcifer. In many 
parts of Spain at present, forks are rarities. 

Among the Scotch Highlanders, knives have been introduced 
at table only since the revolution. Before that period every man 
had a knife of his own, as a companion to his dirk or dagger. 
The men cut the meat for the women into small morsels, who 
then put them into their mouths with their fingers. 

The use of forks at table, was at first considered as a superfluous 
luxury; and therefore they were forbidden to convents, as was 
the case in regard to the congregation of St. Maur. 


RAZORS. 

The term Razor, as applied to the instrument that we shave 
with, is supposed to be derived from the word raze, to cut or pull 
down, to leave nothing standing. Razors are mentioned by 
Homer. Before English manufactures excelled in cutlery, Fos- 
broke says, razors were imported from Palermo in Italy, or rather 
Sicily. 

PINS. 

The pin was not known in England till towards the middle or 
latter end of the reign of Henry VIII.; the ladies until then 


58 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


using ribbons, loops, skewers made of wood, of brass, silver, or 
gold. At first the pin was so ill made, that in the 34th year of 
the king, parliament enacted that none should be sold unless 
they be “ double-headed, and have the headdes soudered faste to 
the shanke of the pynne,” &c. But this interference had such an 
influence on the manufacture, that the public could obtain no 
supply until the obnoxious act was repealed. On referring to 
the statute book, the act of repeal, which passed in the 37th year 
of the same reign, contains the following clauses, which tends to 
shew how cautious the legislature ought to be not to interfere 
with any manufactory which they do not perfectly understand. 
The act of repeal having recited the former act, it then goes on 
to say, “ At which tyme the pynners playnly promised to serve 
the kynge’s liege people wel and sufficiently, and at a reasonable 
price. And for as much sens the makyng of the saide act there 
hath ben scarcitee of pynnes within this realme that the kynge’s 
liege people have not ben wel nor competetly served of such 
pynnes nor ar like to be served nor the pynners of this realme 
(as it doetli nowe manifestly appere) be liable to serve the people 
of this realme accordyng to their saied promise. In consideracion 
whereof it maie please the kyng, &c., that it maie be adjudged 
and denied from hensforth frustrated and niliilated and to be 
repealed for ever.”— &'tat. Henrici Octavi , xxxvii. cap. 13.—The 
consumption of the whole nation is now, 1831, estimated at six¬ 
teen millions of pins per day. 

NEEDLES. 

The Cambrian inhabitants of Britain sewed together for gar¬ 
ments the skins of animals, while they used as needles small bones 
of fish or animals, rudely sharpened at one end ; and needles just 
of the same sort were used by the natives of the Sandwich 
islands when Captain Cook first visited them. Stowe says, that 
needles were first sold in Cheapside in the reign of Queen Mary, 
and then they were made by a Spanish negro, who refused to 
discover the secret of his art. It will be recollected, that many 
Spanish artisans came over to England on the marriage of Philip 
the Second with the said princess. So that we may fairly sup¬ 
pose the needle to be of Spanish origin. Needles were first 
manufactured in England 1566, by Elias Grouse, a German. 

saws, & c. 

The invention of this instrument is ascribed to the nephew of 
Daedalus, who, as they say, having accidentally met with the jaw 
of a serpent, which he used with success to divide a small piece 
of wood, thus acquired the first idea of such an implement, and 
soon afterwards formed a metallic instrument in imitation of it. 
It is also said, that from the saw originated the idea of the file. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


59 

A saw-mill was first fitted up in London in 1633, but after¬ 
wards demolished, that it might not deprive the poor of employ. 

TOURNIQUET. 

This instrument, used by surgeons to benumb the limb prior 
to amputation, was invented by one Morell, at the sief r e of 
Besan§on, in 1674. 

Petit, of France, invented the Screw Tourniquet in 1718. 

ANCHORS. 

The data of the invention of the anchor is somewhat obscure. 
The first anchors, however, were not made of iron, but of stone, 
and sometimes of wood. These latter were loaded with lead. 
Several writers relate that the Phoenicians, in their first voyages 
into Spain, having amassed more silver than their ships could 
contain, took the lead from their anchors, and supplied its place 
with silver.— Goguet's Origin of Laws, &c., vol. i. p. 292. 


TELEGRAPHS 

Were first invented, 1687 ; put into practice by the French in 
1794; by the English, January 28, 1796. In 1816, it was deter¬ 
mined to change the Admiralty Telegraphs into Semaphores. 
They consisted of an upright post, with moveable arms. This kind 
of Telegraph continued to be used at the Government Stations 
till the introduction of the 

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 

The idea of applying electricity to the purposes of telegraphic 
communication, is said to have originated with Mr. James Bain, 
an ingenious mechanic, to whom, by a recent legal decision, a 
handsome remuneration is to be paid out of the funds of the 
Electric Telegraph Company. 

It is chiefly, however, to the joint labours of Messrs. W. F. 
Cooke and Professor Wheatstone, that Electric Telegraphs owe 
their practical application. The first was laid down upon the 
London and Blackwall Railway; the second from London to 
West Drayton; the third (in 1849) from London to Gosport, and by 
means of this surprising agency, an instantaneous communication 
is now made between London and Paris. This invention was 
patented in 1837. When Faraday obtained the converse of elec¬ 
tro-magnetism, by induced electricity from magnets in motion, 
he originated magneto-electricity, and it is possible that its suc¬ 
cessful application to the purposes of the Electric Telegraph, will 
supersede the use of the present galvanic electricity. 

The Electric Telegraph is now marchingapace over continental 


60 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Europe, and so complete is the magic network of its intellectual 
nerves, that for all purposes of communication it may be said 
that there is no longer any British Channel. From the moun¬ 
tain cities of Transylvania, to the marshes of Pomerania, there is 
scarcely a town of any literary or commercial importance not 
connected by the metallic pulses terminating at Charing Cross. 
The Baltic, the Black Sea, the Bay of Biscay, are all now brought 
into immediate contact with each other. A word may be shot 
by lightning from the Gulf of Venice to the Irish Sea. Holland 
has now been brought, as it were, into the human family; and 
Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, Leyden, Rotterdam, and 
Breda, are but as links in the great chain of European confra¬ 
ternity. 


ELECTRIC PRINTING TELEGRAPH. 

Mr. J. Brett has invented an Electric Printing Telegraph, 
which consists of two parts, called the communicator, or key¬ 
board, and the printing machine ; the former is supposed to be at 
the station from which intelligence is to be transmitted, and the 
latter, the place to which it is to be sent. The machinery is 
propelled chiefly by the power of weights, or by ordinary clock- 
springs. The motion of the printing-machine is regulated by the 
galvanic current, by means of an escapement, and which requires 
much less power than is necessary to impel the machinery; thus 
both the advantage of the instantaneous action of the current, and 
the greater power of the weights, combine to accomplish the 
work for which this machine is designed. By the use of Mr. 
Brett’s Telegraph, communications are made in any language, 
and printed upon paper with considerable rapidity and precision; 
the paper and ink are self-supplying, and sufficient may be 
placed in the apparatus of both to last for some time. It is cal¬ 
culated that the letters may be printed at a greater speed than 
a well-practised person could write them, and that a clerk, after 
some experience, might manipulate upon the finger key-board 
upwards of 150 letters per minute. 

DOMESTIC TELEGRAPH. 

The mechanical Domestic Telegraph consists of an arrange¬ 
ment of tubes, formed of gutta percha, and suppli ed with metallic 
and other mouth pieces, to which a whistle is attached. By blow¬ 
ing into the tube, the whistle is sounded in a remote apartment, 
and the message can then be delivered with scarcely any elevation 
of the voice through the tube, which transmits sound in a remark¬ 
able manner. Mr. Whishaw of John Street, Adelphi, contributed 
a Telekouphonon, or Speaking Telegraph, to the Great Exhibi¬ 
tion.—(See Official Descriptive Catalogue, vol. i. p. 454.) Mr. 
Burdett of Clapham, has also invented another Domestic Tele- 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


61 


graph, requiring only one bell for any number of rooms. All the 
rooms being numbered, wires are brought to corresponding num¬ 
bers on this machine, so that, when the wire of any room is 
agitated, the bell will ring, and the indicator will point out the 
number of the room on the dial where attention is required. 

TELESCOPES. 

The precise period of the invention of the Telescope is unknown. 
Roger Bacon, before the end of the thirteenth century, had no 
doubt conceived the instrument, though there is no proof that 
his conception was carried into practice. About 1590, two Dutch 
opticians, Zachariah Jans (or Jansen,) and Hans Lapprey, con¬ 
structed Telescopes. The first on record, however, who appears 
to have carried his theoretical notions into effect, is Leonard 
Digges, as we learn from the second edition of his Pantometria, 
published by his son in 1591. It was while Galileo was living 
at Venice, a.d. 1609, that he heard of its discovery, and imme¬ 
diately applied himself to make such improvements, so as to 
render this instrument available for the purposes of astronomy. 
In 1655, Huygens, in conjunction with his brother Constantine, 
applied himself to the manufacture of this noble instrument. 
Since his time, improvements have been made in it by James 
Gregory, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Hooke, Herschel, and the Earl 
of Rosse. 


HOROSCOPE. 

This word, in astrology, is the degree or point of the heavens 
rising above the eastern point of the horizon at any given time, 
when a prediction is to be made of a future event, as, the fortune 
of a person then born, the success of a design then laid, the 
weather, and so on. The word is composed of i>pa , hour, and 
a-Htir To/j.a. 1 , I consider. Such was at one time the infatu¬ 
ation concerning horoscopes, that Albertus Magnus, Cardan, and 
others, are said to have had the temerity to draw that of Jesus 
Christ. 

Horoscope is also used for a scheme or figure of the twelve 
houses or signs of the Zodiac, in which is marked the disposition 
of the heavens for any given time. Thus we say, to draw a 
horoscope, to construct a horoscope, and the like. Calculating a 
nativity , is when the life and fortune of a person are the subject 
of the prediction. 


SPECTACLES. 

Dr. Johnson expressed his surprise that the inventor of spec¬ 
tacles was regarded with indifference, and had found no biogra¬ 
pher to celebrate his deeds. Most authorities give the latter 


62 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


part of the thirteenth century as the period of their invention, 
popular opinion has pronounced in favour of Alexander de Spina, 
a native of Pisa, who died in the year 1313. In the Italian Dic¬ 
tionary, Bella Crusca, under the head of “ Occliiale,” or Spectacles, 
it is stated that Friar J ordan de Rivalto tells his audience, in a 
sermon published in 1305, that “ it is not twenty years since the 
art of making spectacles was found out, and is indeed one of the 
best and most necessary inventions in the world.” This would 
place the invention in the year 1285. On the other hand, Dominic 
Maria Manni, an eminent Italian writer, attributes the invention 
to Sal vino Armati, who flourished about 1345—(See his Treatise, 
Begli Occhiali da Naso , inventati da Salvino Armati , 4to. 1738.) 
On the authority of various passages in the writings of Friar 
Bacon, Mr. Molyneux is of opinion that he was acquainted with 
the use of spectacles; and when Bacon ( Opus Majus) says, that 
this instrument (a plano-convex glass, or large segment of a 
sphere) is useful to old men, and to those who have weak eyes ; 
for they may see the smallest letters sufficiently magnified,” we 
may conclude that the particular way of assisting decayed sight 
was known to him. It is quite certain that they were known 
and used about the time of his death, a.d. 1292. 

TIME MEASURE BAROMETER 

Was introduced by Scipio Nasica, 159; King Alfred’s time¬ 
keeper was six large Avax tapers, each 12 inches long; as they 
burnt unequally, owing to the wind, he invented a lanthorn, made 
of Avood, and then scraped plates of ox-liorns, glass being a great 
rarity, (887.) The ancients had three sorts of time measures- 
hour glasses, sun dials, and a vessel full of Avater with a hole in 
its bottom. 

SAILING COACHES. 

We have heard much of propelling coaches by steam, but it 
appears from the following article, that sailing coaches, or coaches 
propelled along by the wind, Avere known to our neighbours loner 
ago. They were invented by Simon Sterinius, a Fleming. 

“ Purposing to visit Grotius (saith Gassendus,) Peireskms went 
to Schevelmg, that he might satisfy himself of the carriage and 
swiftness of a coach, a few years before invented, and made up 
Avith that artifice, that with expanded sails it would fly upon the 
shore as a ship upon the sea. He had formerly heard that Count 
Maurice, a little after his victory at Newport, had put himself 
thereinto, together with Francis Mendoza, his prisoner on pur¬ 
pose to make trial thereof; and that within tAvo hours thev 
arrived at Putten, which is distant from Scheveling fourteen 
leagues or two and forty miles. He had, therefore, a mind to 
make the experiment of it himself, and he would often tell us 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


63 


with what admiration he was seized, when he was carried with a 
quick wind, and yet perceived it not, the coach’s motion being 
equally quick.” 

STEAM ENGINES. 

We have often heard of the utility of steam being derived 
from its effect on the lid of the tea-kettle ; be that as it may, it 
was first employed to produce motion by Brancas, a philosopher 
at Rome, about the year 1628. But the first real steam engine 
for raising water, is described in a small pamphlet, published in 
the reign of Charles the Second, in the year 1663, entitled, “ A 
Century of the Names and Scantlings of the Marquis of Wor¬ 
cester’s Inventions, written in the year 1655.” No use was made 
of this invaluable hint until Captain Savary, in 1698, obtained a 
patent for an engine which operated both by the expansive and 
condensive force of steam, to be employed in drawing mines, 
serving towns with water, and for working all sorts of mills. 

Thomas Newcomen, ironmonger, and John Cowley, glazier, of 
Dartmouth, obtained a patent in 1705 for improvements made in 
the steam engine, and in which Captain Savary was admitted to 
participate. But it was reserved for James Watt, a mathematical 
instrument maker at Glasgow, to bring the steam engine to 
perfection. He obtained a patent for his great invention of per¬ 
forming condensation in a separate vessel from the cylinder. 
Many inventions have, since that time, been made by him for 
effecting a saving and better application of steam. Watt often 
acknowledged, that his first ideas on this subject were acquired 
by his attendance on Dr. Black’s Chemical Lectures, and from 
his consideration of latent heat, and the expansibility of steam. 
The name of George Dodd deserves a prominent place in the 
history of steam engines, as being the first to undertake a con¬ 
siderable voyage by sea in a steam vessel. The boat was built 
on the Clyde by Messrs. Wood, and was launched in 1813, under 
the name of the Glasgow 7 , but subsequently called the Thames. 

HORSE’S P0W r ER. 

This term, used as the name of a measure of power, is an ex¬ 
pression wdiich had its origin in convenience. In its first appli¬ 
cation no great nicety was necessary; but as the value of 
mechanical pow r er became better understood, an exact measure, 
nearly coinciding with the pow r er of a horse, and uniformity in 
the practice of engineers, became desirable. Mr. Watt has fixed 
the elementary horse power at 1,920,0001b. raised one foot per 
hour, or 32,000lb. raised one foot per minute, or 533 raised one 
foot per second. Mr. Watt further assigned a proportion for the 
low-pressure steam engine, equivalent to a horse’s power, which 
is 55 times the square of the diameter of the cylinder, in inches, 


64 


TOE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


multiplied by the velocity of the piston, six feet per minute, and 
the product divided by 32,000, the result is the number of 
horse’s power. The advantage of steam power is apparent; the 
horse can work at that rate only eight hours; the engine may 
be kept at work as long as wanted. 

WINNOWING MACHINES. . \ 

These very useful machines were a Chinese invention, brought 
to Europe by the Dutch, and first made in Scotland by Rodgers, 
near Hawick, in 1733, from whence they were soon after brought 
into Northumberland, where they were first used in England. 

SPINNING JENNIES. 

The Spinning Jenny, to which this country owes so much of 
its commercial greatness, was originally invented by Hargreaves 
in 1767, but ultimately improved by Richard Arkwright, a bar¬ 
ber, but who afterwards became an eminent manufacturer, and 
ultimately Sir Richard Arkwright, Bart. 

The term Jenny, was derived from his wife, whose name was 
Jane, but whom he used to address by the familiar name of 
Jenny ; thinking, no doubt, as the latter had been very prolific 
(which was the case), that his new invention would be equally 
so, under a similar appellation. The result justified such a con¬ 
clusion. 

AIR BALLOONS. 

As balloon ascensions seem quite the rage, it may not be amiss 
to state, that Mr. Lunardi accompanied by a cat, a dog, and a pigeon, 
ascended in one from the Artillery Ground, Moorfields (the first 
attempt of the kind in England), September 15,1784. For some 
account of the recent improvements *in aerial machines, see the 
Reports of the Juries of the Great Exhibition , p. 309. 

LANTHORNS 

Were first used in England by king Alfred, in 890, as is 
noticed in Asser’s Life of Alfred. See also John xviii. 3. 

DIORAMA, PANORAMA, &c. 

Diorama is from the Greek, and means to “ see through,” and 
is a mode of painting and scenic exhibition of recent invention 
by two French artists, Daguerre and Bouton. It possesses 
some advantages over the Panorama, in being equally suitable 
for architectural and interior views as for landscape. The 
Panorama is neither more nor less than a large picture, the 
Diorama is a transparency, and the Cosmorama and Pcecilorama 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


65 


a couple of galanta shows for grown up ladies and gentlemen. 
The Diorama in the Regent’s Park, London, was first opened in 
1823, and was erected after the plans of Messrs. Morgan and 
Pugin. The Diorama at Berlin, executed by Carl Gropius, an 
eminent scene painter, is somewhat on the same plan. 

KALEIDOSCOPE. 

This ever-varying optical instrument derives its name from 
xaXo; beautiful , a So; a form, and awniw to see. The novelty was so 
enchanting, that opticians could not manufacture kaleidoscopes 
fast enough to meet the universal desire for seeing the delightful 
and ever-varying combinations presented by each turn of the 
magical cylinder. It was invented by Dr. Brewster, to whom, 
had its exclusive formation been ensured, it must have produced 
a handsome fortune in a single year. Unhappily, that gentleman 
was deprived of his just reward by fraudful anticipation. 

WATER CARRIAGE. 

Floats, 'or rafts, are believed by most authors to have been the 
first kind of water carriage. To these succeeded canoes, made 
of one large tree excavated, to secure its freight from being 
wetted or washed away. 

“ Then first on seas the hollow alder swam.” 

As uncultivated natives wanted proper tools for sawing large 
trees into planks, the most ancient vessels or boats in several 
countries were made of osiers, and the flexible branches of trees 
interwoven as close as possible, and covered with skins. The 
sea which flows between Britain and Ireland, says Csesar, is so 
unquiet and stormy, that it is only navigable in summer, when 
the people of these countries pass and repass it in small boats 
made of wattles, and covered carefully with the hides of oxen. 

SHIPS OF WAR. 

The art of sliip-building was first invented by the Egyptians ; 
the first ship (probably a galley) being brought from Egypt by 
Darius, 1485 b.c. The first ship of 800 tons was built in Eng¬ 
land, 1509. The first double-decked one built in England was of 
1000 tons burthen, by order of Henry VII.: she had three masts, 
carried 80 guns, measured 138 feet in length and 36 in breadth ; 
it cost <£14,000, and was called the Great Harry. Down to the 
year 1545, the “ Great Harry” was the only ship of that description 
in the British Fleet. She was accidentally burnt at Woolwich in 
her sixty-fifth year ; before this, 24 gun-ships were the largest in 
our navy. Port-holes, and other improvements, were first 

F 


66 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


invented by Descharges, a French builder at Brest, in the reign 
of Louis XII., 1500. 

BASKETS. ! 

Baskets were first made by the ancient Britons, who exported 
vast quantities of them. Julius Caesar particularly alludes to 
them in his Commentaries. 


MARINER’S COMPASS. 

The Mariner’s Compass was invented by Flavio Uioia, or 
Goya, a Neapolitan, and from which period we may date the 
general intercourse among nations. It was discovered early in 
the fourteenth century. 


FLEUR-DE-LIS ON THE MARINER’S COMPASS. 



Those who have seen the mariner’s compass, or indeed a drawing 
of it, must have observed the fleur-de-lis at the point of the 
needle. From this circumstance the French have laid claim to 
the discovery; but it is much more probable that the figure is an 
ornamental cross, which originated in the devotion of an ignorant 
and superstitious age to the mere symbol. 


BRIDGES. 

Bridges were originally called Bows. Stow says, at Stratford 
by Bow is a bridge, the first that was built of stone in England. 
It was built by orders of queen Matilda, relict of Henry I., over 
the river Lea, and called Stratford Bow from its arch, which was 
a piece of architecture then probably new to the British nation. 
It was built in 1087. It is related that queen Matilda, being 
closely pursued by her enemies, forded the river Lea below Old 
Ford, on which occasion, the waters being much out, some of her 
favourite attendants were drowned, and which afflicted her so 
much, that afterwards she caused the bridge above alluded to, to 
be built over the said place. The oldest bridge now existing in 
England, is the triangular bridge at Croyland in Lincolnshire, 
which is said to have been erected about A. d. 860. The oldest 
suspension bridge is believed to have been the Winch Chain 
Bridge, suspended over the Tees, supposed to have been erected 
about 1741. 


CANALS. 

The first canal in England, with locks and sluices, was made 
a.d. 1563, near the city of Exeter. The inventor was John Trew 
of Glamorgan. In 1755, an act was passed for constructing one 
eleven miles long from the mouth of Sankey Brook, in the river 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 67 

Mersej r , to Gerard’s Bridge and St. Helens. The aggregate 
length of the navigable canals of England exceeds 2,200 miles. 

FISHING WITH NETS IN ENGLAND. 

The means of supplying life with necessaries, was but imper¬ 
fectly known and cultivated. The poor pagans of Sussex, though 
starving for want of food, knew not how to catch any fish except 
eels, until Bishop Wilfred (who in 678 took shelter in that dis¬ 
trict) instructed them in the use of nets. He took 300 at a 
draught, and thus, supplying the bodily wants of his catechumens, 
rendered their minds tractable to his doctrines, and easily 
accomplished their conversion. 

GUNPOWDER. 

Gunpowder was known in the Eastern world long before its 
discovery took place in Europe. It is a curious fact, that upon 
our discovery of China we found that nation possessed of gun¬ 
powder, a composition which could not have been made without 
a considerable knowledge of chemistry. It has been said that it 
was used in China as early as the year 85, and that the know¬ 
ledge of it was conveyed to us from the Arabs, on the return of 
the Crusaders to Europe ; that the Arabs made use of it at the 
siege of Mecca in 690 ; and that they derived it from the Indians. 
The discovery of the manufacture of this death-dealing combus¬ 
tible in Europe, is by some attributed to Berthold Schwartz, a 
German chemist and monk, who, happening to triturate some 
sulphur, nitre, and charcoal, in a mortar, was surprised and alarmed 
at an unexpected explosion, which blew off the head of his mor¬ 
tar to a considerable distance. The probability however is, that 
this was a second discovery of the same thing, for the first inti¬ 
mation that was given of it was considerably before, by that 
great philosopher, Roger Bacon, in his posthumous treatise, 
entitled, De Nulliate Magice, published in 1316. “You may,” 
says he, “ raise thunder and lightning at pleasure, by only taking 
sulphur, nitre, and charcoal, which singly have no effect, but 
mixed together, and confined in a close place, cause a noise and 
explosion greater than a clap of thunder.” 

Gunpowder was first made use of in warfare, in Europe, by the 
English at the battle of Cressy, in the year 1345, when, for the 
first time, three pieces of field ordnance, or cannon,* were first 
used. It was afterwards used by the Yenetians at the siege of 
Genoa, and from that period was adopted by every power in 
Europe. It consists of a very intimate mixture of nitre, or nitrate 
of potash, charcoal, and sulphur : the proportions are 75 nitre, 
15 charcoal, and 10 sulphur. 

* The first cannons were made of trees bored, and bound with iron hoops, 
Stone balls were used till the reign of Henr)' VIII. 


68 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Before the introduction of gunpowder, however, an highly in¬ 
flammable compound called Greek fire was in use; and this, 
having the property of burning under water, could not easily be 
extinguished ; consequently, it did surprising execution. In the 
12th century, the emperors of Constantinople used to send quan¬ 
tities of this dreadful combustible to princes in friendship with 
them, as the most valuable present they could give them, and the 
greatest mark of their favour. It was considered so important 
an article of offence, that the use of it was continued long after 
the introduction of gunpowder. 



CANNONS. 


Cannons were first used at the battle of Cressy, in the year 
1345 ; they were, however, of a small kind. Great guns were 
first used in England at the siege of Berwick, in 1405. Muskets 
were not invented till the year 1521. Cannons were first made 
of wood, bound with iron. The earliest cannon-balls were of 
stone. Brass cannons first cast in England by John Owen, 1535. 
Iron cannons first cast, 1543, in Sussex. 


BOMBS. 



Bombs were first invented in 1388, by a man at Yenlo. Some 
attribute them to Galen, bishop of Munster. They were first 
thrown upon the town of Watchtendonck, in Guelderland, in the 
year 1580. 


CHAIN SHOT. 


This destructive missile was invented by De Wit in the year 
1666, and was first used by the Dutch on the 1st of June the same 
year, when the Dutch fleet engaged the Duke of Albemarle’s 
squadron in the Downs ; it was a drawn battle. 


CONGREVE ROCKETS. 


The death-dealing rockets thus denominated, receive their 
name from General Sir W. Congreve, the inventor of them. 


GUILLOTINE. 


The guillotine takes its name from one Dr. Guillotin, who first 
introduced it into France, where it was adopted as an instrument 
for inflicting capital punishment by a Decree of the 20th of March, 
1792. It is an instrument for beheading, constructed on the same 
principle as the guillotine that was anciently used in Scotland, and 
was called a maiden; it was introduced by the Regent, James 
Earl of Morton, who, it seems, had met with it in his travels, and 
who, by a singular coincidence, was the first person whose head 
it severed. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


69 



“This mighty Earl (Morton), for the pleasure of the place, and 
the salubrity ol the air, designed here a noble recess and retire¬ 
ment from worldly business, but was prevented by his unfortu¬ 
nate and inexorable death, three years after, anno 1581, being 
accused, condemned, and executed by the maiden, at the Cross of 
Edinbro’, as art and part of the murder of King Henry, Earl of 
Darnley, father of James VI., which fatal instrument, at least the 
pattern thereof, the cruel Regent had brought from abroad to 
behead the Laird of Pennecuik of that ilk, who notwithstanding 
died in his bed, and the Earl was the first that handselled this 
unfortunate Maiden.”— Pennecuik Duse. Tweedal. 

LION’S HEAD FOUNTAINS. 

Fountains are not so prevalent now as they were wont to be. 
Formerly almost every leading street in London, and almost 
every town in the country, had its conduit or fountain, from 
whence 

“ the grateful fluid fell.” 

They were generally adorned with the lion’s head, which the 
ancients introduced, because the inundation of the Nile happened 
during the progress of the sun in Leo. 

BASTINADO. 

Tarquin the Proud invented, says St. Isidore, the bastinado and 
other punishments, and, adds he, he deserved exile. Bastinado, or 
more correctly, Baston&ta, is derived from the Italian bastone , a 
stick, bastonare, to beat with a stick. It is called bamboo in 
China, and knout in Russia. 

THE TREAD MILL. 

A recent invention for giving useful employment to persons 
imprisoned for crime. Its usual form is that of a cylindrical 
wheel, of about 5 feet diameter and 16 feet long. The circumference 
is furnished with 24 equidistant steps, on which the prisoners are 
made to work on the mill. All mountiDg the first step together, 
their freight sets the wheel in motion, bringing down the step 
trod upon, when they tread up to the next, which descends in the 
same manner, and so on producing a continuous rotatory motion, 
which may be aj>plied as the moving force in turning any sort of 
machinery. 

SUN-DIAL. 

Why has it, says Elia, almost every where vanished ? If its 
business use be superseded by more elaborate inventions, its moral 
uses, its beauty, might have pleaded for its continuance. It spoke 


) 



70 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 




of moderate labours, of pleasures not protracted after sunset, of 
temperance, and good hours. It was the primitive clock, the 
horologe of the first world. Adam could scarce have missed it 
in Paradise. It was the measure appropriate for sweet plants 
and flowers to spring by ; for the birds to apportion their silver 
warblings by ; for flocks to pasture and be led to fold by. The 
shepherd carved it out quaintly in the sun, and, turning philoso¬ 
pher by the very occupation, provided it with mottoes more 
touching than tombstones. 

The first sun-dial is said to have been set up at Rome by L. 
Papirius Cursor, a.u. 447 (b.c. 301), and the next near the 
rostra, by M. Valerius Mesela, the consul, who brought it from 
Catania in Sicily, in the first Punic war, a.u. 481. ScipioNasica 
first measured time at Rome by water, or clepsydrae, which 
served by night as well as by day, a.u. 595. 

CLOCKS, WATCHES, &c. 

Clock-making was brought into this country from the Nether¬ 
lands. About the year 1368, that patriotic and wise prince, 
Edward the Third, invited over to this country John Uninam, 
William Uninam, and John Lutuyt, of Delft, and granted them 
his royal protection to exercise their trade of clock-making in any 
part of his kingdom, without molestation.—Rymer’s Foedera , vol. 
vi. p. 590. 

Pocket watches were first brought to England from Germany 
in 1577 ; and the manufacture of them commenced a few years 
afterwards. 

According to Eginliard, secretary to Charlemagne, the first 
clock seen in Europe was sent to his master by Abdalla, king of 
Persia. A geographical clock, showing the difference of mean 
time in all the capitals of Europe, from a design by B. di Ber- 
nardis, was contributed to the Great Exhibition; see Official and 
Descriptive Catalogue, vol. iii. p. 1015. 

ELECTRICAL CLOCKS. 

A most successful experiment was made at the Great Exhibi¬ 
tion in 1851, of workingtliree large dials by electricity, not merely 
as a means of connection with one large clock driven by a weight 
in the usual way, but by using electricity as the motive power. 
The following extract from a letter from Mr. Finlaison, of 
Loughton Hall, appeared in the Polytechnic Review :—“ Mr. Bain 
has succeeded to admiration in working electric clocks by the 
currents of the earth. He set up a small clock in my drawing¬ 
room, the pendulum of which is in the hall, and both instruments 
in a voltaic circuit as follows On the N.E. side of my house 
two zinc plates, a foot square, are sunk in a hole, and suspended 


/ 











THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


71 


to a wire : this is passed through the house, to the pendulum 
first, and then to the clock. On the S.E. side of the house, at a 
distance of about forty yards, a bole was dug four feet deep, and 
two sacks of common coke buried in it: among the coke another 
wire was secured, and passed in at the drawing-room window 
and joined to the former wire at the clock. The ball of the pen¬ 
dulum weighs nine pounds, but it was moved energetically, and 
has ever since continued to do so with the self-same energy. The 
time is to perfection, and the cost of the motive power was only 
7s. 6d. There are but three little wheels in the clock, and neither 
weights nor springs; so there is nothing to be wound up.” 

BELLS. 

Bells of a small size are undoubtedly very ancient. Small 
gold bells are mentioned in Exodus as ornaments worn upon the 
liem of the High Priest’s robe. The large bells now used in 
Churches, are said to have been invented by Paulinus, bishop of 
Kola in Campania, about the year 400. They were probably in¬ 
troduced into England very soon after their invention, and are 
first mentioned by Bede about the close of the seventh century. 
Such bells were consecrated, and often received the names of 
persons. The great bell cast in 1845 for York Minster, the 
heaviest in the United Kingdom, weighs upwards of 12 tons, or 
about 27,000 lbs. 

MANUFACTURE OF TIN-PLATE. 

Formerly, says Parkes in his Chemical Essays , none of the 
English workers in iron or tin had any knowledge whatever of 
the methods by which this useful article could be produced ; our 
ancestors, from time immemorial, having supplied themselves 
with it from Bohemia and Saxony. The establishment of this 
manufacture in those districts, was doubtless owing to their 
vicinity to the tin mines in the circle of Ersgebirge, which, next 
to those of Cornwall, are the largest in Europe. The ore which 
is found there is not the tin pyrites, but the mineral called tin 
stone. 

From the time of the invention of tin-plate to the end of the 
seventeenth century, not only England, but also, the whole of 
Europe, depended upon the manufactures of Bohemia and Saxony 
for their supply. However, about the year 1665, Mr. Andrew 
Yarranton, encouraged by some persons of property, undertook 
to "O over to Saxony to acquire a knowledge of the art: and on 
his return, several parcels of tin-plate were made of a supenoi 
quality to those which we had been accustomed to import from 
Saxony • but owing to some unfortunate and unforeseen circum¬ 
stances, ’ which are all detailed by Mr. Yarranton in his very 
valuable publication, the manufactory was not at that time 


72 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


(although some few years after), established in any part of Great 
Britain. Such was the origin of the tin-plate manufactory in 
England, where, at this day, it is in greater perfection than in 
any other country in Europe. 


BLEACHING. 


Flax and hemp were employed in the fabrication of cloth many 
years ago, and in those early times such cloth was hio-hly es¬ 
teemed ; it must therefore,, long before that period, have been 
discovered that these fabrics were improved in colour by ex¬ 
posure.to the action of the atmosphere. The effect of hot water in 
whitening brown linen, would also soon arrest the attention of 
mankind ; and when it became a practice with the early inhabi¬ 
tants of Asia to employ certain earths and alkaline plants in the 
operations of washing and scouring their garments, the whitening 
as. wel as the detersive properties of these vegetables, could not 
fail to be observed, and, by degrees, would naturally occasion the 
introduction of regular processes for bleaching ; and that this art 
was practised very early, is, I think, says Parkes, evident from 

the great progress which it had made in the beginning of the 
Christian era. a ° 

That the ancients had learnt some method of rendering their 
linen extremely white, may be supposed from many remarks 
which are interspersed among their writings. Homer speaks of 
the garments of. his countrywomen, in a way that leaves no 

doubt of their being clothed, occasionally at least, in white vest- 
meiits. 


“ Each gushing fount a marble cistern fills, 

Whose polish’d bed receives the falling rills 
Wh^Trojan dames, ere yet alarm’d by Greece, 
Wash d their fair garments in the days of peace.' 


Modern bleaching, however, originated with the Dutch whose 
linens were the most esteemed of any in Europe. 


CALICO PRINTING. 


The coat above alluded to was probably of cotton or linen • at 
any rate, we are informed, that more than 3000 ye 
shrewd matron tied a scarlet thread round the hand of one of 
Tamars children ;* and Homer, who flourished 900 yeais nc 

Auctions+ Varl6gated Cl ° ths ° f Sidon as magnificent pro- 

An historian who wrote more than 400 years before the Chris 
tian era when describing the nations which inhabited Caucasus' 
a mountain extending throughout the regions of Georgia* and 
rrnema, affirms, that by means of vegetables ground and^diluted 
with water, these people adorned their cloth with the figures of 

* Genesis xxxviii. 28 . f Ui a d, lib. vi. line 289 . 









TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


73 


various animals, and that the dyes were permanent which were 
thus obtained. 

Strabo, the Greek philosopher, who was contemporary with 
our Saviour, relates that the Indians wore flowered linens, and 
that India abounded with drugs, roots, and colouring substances, 
from which some very beautiful dyes were produced; and we 
know that the inhabitants of India used a purple and scarlet 
. dye, resembling cochineal in colour, and in the manner of its 
production. 

Tyre, and other parts of Syria, have long been famed also for 
using purple and scarlet dye. The Tyrian dye has been noticed 
in song, poetry, and prose ; and the late Lord Erskine wittily 
alludes to it in his epigram on the Sergeants of the Common 
Pleas: 

“ Their purple garments come from Tyre, 

Their arguments go to it!” 

Thus it will appear, that the origin of calico-printing may be 
traced to the earlier ages, but to whom the invention belongs is 
lost in the mazes of obscurity. 

It does not appear that calico-printing was introduced into 
this country earlier than the reign of Elizabeth, when an act was 
passed to restrain the use of logwood in dyeing, on account of the 
fugitive nature of its colour.* 


SOAP. 

The first notice we have of soap is by one of the Hebrew pro¬ 
phets—“ Though thou wash thee with nitre and take much soap, 
yet thine iniquity is marked before me .”—Jeremiah ii. 22. The 
term soap occurs repeatedly in the Old Testament, but Beck¬ 
mann has proved, in his Treatise on Soap, that the Hebrew word 
Borithpvhich has been rendered soap, rather means alkali. Hit ins, 
who flourished about the end of the fifth century, and was the 
first Christian medical writer, speaks of a black soap ; and Paulus 
Higineta, a Greek physician, who lived in the early part of the 
seventh century, says he made an extemporaneous soap from oil 
and the burned dregs of wine. It would be difficult to trace the 
onward progress of soap-making, step by step; but it is certain 
that the boiling of soap flourished in the seventeenth century, 
from the directions of that date for its preparation. 


ALUM. 

The first alum manufactured in England was in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, at Gisborougli in Yorkshire, by one Thomas 
Chaloner, an ancestor of Robert Chaloner, Esq. 

* In the time of Elizabeth, the nature of logwood was not understood; 
but now it has many important uses, and, when properly employed, is one 
of the most valuable articles used in dyeing. 


74 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


LAWNS, CAMBRICS, AND STARCHING. 

Shortly after the introduction of coaches, the knowledge and 
wear of lawns and cambrics were introduced by the Dutch mer¬ 
chants, who retailed those articles in ells, yards, &c., for there 
was not one housekeeper among forty durst buy a whole piece ; 
and when the queen (Elizabeth) had ruffs made thereof, for her 
own princely wearing (for until then the kings and queens of 
England wore fine Holland in ruffs), there was none in England 
could tell how to starch them ; but the queen made special means 
for some women that could starch, and Guilham’s wife was the 
first starcher the queen had, and himself was the first coachman. 

Soon after this, the art of starching was first publicly taught 
in London by a Flemish woman, called Mistress Dinghen Vander 
Place ; her usual price for teaching the art itself being four or 
five pounds, and twenty shillings additional for showing how to 
seethe the starch. At this period, the making of lawn ruffs was 
regarded by the populace as so strange and finical, that there¬ 
upon rose a general scoff and bywords, “that shortly they 
would make ruffs of spider’s web.” 

THE SILK TRADE. 

The ancients were but little acquainted with the use and 
manufacture of silk ; they took it for the work of a sort of spider 
or beetle, who spun it out of its entrails, and wound it with its 
feet about the little branches of trees. It was in the Isle of Cos 
that the art of manufacturing it was first invented ; and Pamphila, 
daughter of Platis, is honoured as the inventress. The discovery 
was not long unknown to the Romans. Silk was brought from 
Serica, where the worm was a native. They could not believe 
so fine a thread was the production of a worm—it was a scarce 
commodity among them for many ages ; it was even sold weight 
for weight with gold, insomuch that Vopiscus tells us, the Em¬ 
peror Aurelian, who died a.d. 275, refused the Empress, his wife, 
a suit of silk, which she solicited of him with much earnestness, 
merely on account of its dearness ; but at the present period, 
through the industry and enterprise of man, the produce of this 
tender worm (which a thoughtless individual would crush beneath 
his feet), serves to decorate the humble individual as well as the 
mighty monarch. 

Heliogabulus is said to be the first person who wore holoseri- 
cum, i.e., a garment made all of silk. The Greeks of Alexander’s 
army are said to have been the first who brought wrought silk 
from Persia into Greece, about 323 years before Christ: but its 
manufacture was confined to Berytus and Tyre, and from thence 
it was dispersed over the west. At length two monks, coming 
from the Indies to Constantinople in 555, brought with them 
great quantities of silkworms, with instructions for the hatching 














THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


75 


of their eggs, rearing, and feeding the worms, &c. Upon this, 
manufactures were set up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. It 
was brought to France a little before the time of Francis I., who 
brought it to Touraine. It appears there was a company of silk 
women in England so early as the year 1455 ; but these were 
probably employed in needle works of silk and thread. Italy 
supplied England and all other parts with the broad manufacture 
till 1489. In 1620, the broad silk manufacture was introduced 
into this country ; and in 1661, the company of silk-throwsters 
employed above 40,000 persons. The revocation of the edict of 
Nantes, in 1685, contributed in a great degree to promote the 
silk manufacture in this country, as did also the silk throwing 
machine, erected at Derby in 1719, which contained 26,586 wheels ; 
one water-wheel moved the whole, and in a day and night it 
worked 318,504,960 yards of organized silk. Within about a 
century the secret has been found in France of procuring and 
preparing silk from the webs of spiders. The silk, however, 
from the spider is both inferior in strength and lustre. 

WEAVING. 

The vestments of the early inhabitants of the world discovered 
neither art nor industry. They made use of such as nature 
presented, and needed the least preparation. Some nations covered 
themselves with the bark of trees, others with leaves or bulrushes, 
rudely interwoven. The skins of animals were also universally 
used as garments, worn without preparation, and in the same 
state as they came from the bodies of the animals.* 

In process of time recourse was had to the wool of animals,t and 
this led to the further discovery of the art of uniting the separate 
parts into one continued thread, by means of the spindle ; and 
this would consequently lead to the next step, the invention of 
weaving, which, according to Democritus, who flourished 400 
years before Christ, arose from the art of the spider, who guides 
and manages the threads by the weight of her own body. 

That the invention of weaving was long prior to the time of 
Democritus, appears from the sacred writings.J This is evident 
also from the answer which Abraham gave to the king of Sodom : 
—“I will not,” said he, “ take from a thread of the woof, even to a 
shoe latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich.” 

“ Inventress of the woof, fair Lina flings 
The flying shuttle through the dancing strings, 

Inlays the broider’d weft with flowery dyes, 

Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rise; 

Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind, 

And dance and nod the massy weights behind.” 

* Lucretius, lib. vi. verse 1011. f Genesis xxxi. 19, and xxxviii. 12, 14. 

I Ibid xiv. 23. 


76 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Chronology informs us, linen was first made in England 1253. 
“ Now began the luxurious to wear linen, but the generality 
woollen shirts.” Table linen very scarce in England, in 1386. A 
company of linen weavers, however, came over from the Nether¬ 
lands in that year, after which it became more abundant. 

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 

To the bigotry of Spain, may be attributed the chief cause of 
our manufacturing greatness. The persecuted artisans came 
hither in flocks, and set up their looms under Edward VI. The 
reign of Mary impeded their settlement, her government acting 
under the influence of Philip II. of Spain, her husband, and the 
oppressor of the artisans. Elizabeth encouraged their return. 
But it was to the gibbets and wheels of the duke of Alva, that 
England is the most indebted. Scared by his inhumanity (his 
object being to make the authority of Philip as absolute in Flan¬ 
ders as in Spain, and to introduce the Inquisition), the Flemish 
manufacturers fled hither in shoals, aud were received with hos¬ 
pitality. They repaid this polite kindness, by peopling the 
decayed streets of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, 
Maidstone, Spitalfields, and many other towns, with many active 
and industrious weavers, dyers, cloth-workers, linen-makers, silk- 
tin ow ers, &c. They also taught the making of ba 3 T s (baize), and 
other stuffs. ^ 

It is worthy of remark, also, that from a herd of sheep, tran¬ 
sposed from the Gotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, to Castile, 
in 1464, descended the sheep which produces the fine wool of 
Spain, so much in repute. 

The celebrated bishop Blaise invented the art of wool-coinbin<T 
and thereby greatly improved the cloth manufacture. At Brad¬ 
ford, in Yorkshire, the wool-combers, &c., celebrate his nativity 
by processions with music, dancing, and festivity. 

WEAVING STOCKINGS. 

The stocking loom was first invented, about the year 1590, by 
the Rev. William Bee, of St. .John’s College, Cambridge. This 
gentleman being desirous of bringing the machine into general 
use, and unable to procure any remuneration from the o*overn- 
ment of his own country, he went over to Rouen, in Normandy 
where some spirited individuals undertook to introduce him to 
the Trench minister, who gladly afforded him protection and 
patronage. He had previously applied to queen Elizabeth ; and 
it must appear not a little extraordinary, that this monarch should 
have refused him her support, when it is recollected what patron¬ 
age . she afforded to Hamel Houghsetter, and to many other 
foreigners, whom she had invited from different places on the 
continent of Europe, to instruct her subjects in useful arts, and 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


77 


in the establishment of new manufactures. He died, however, in 
France, before his loom was made there ; and the art was not 
long since in no part of the world but England. Oliver the 
Protector made an act, that it should be felony to transport the 
engine. This information I took, says Aubrey, from a weaver 
in Pearpool Lane, in 1656. Elizabeth, in the third year of her 
reign, received a present of a pair of black silk knit stockings, and 
from that time never wore cloth hose. 

DAMASK WEAVING. 

The name which this art >bears shows the place of its origin, 
or at least the place where it has been practised in the greatest 
perfection, viz. the city of Damascus, in Syria ; though M. Feli- 
bien attributes the perfection of the art to his countryman, 
Cursinet, who wrought under the reign of king Henry IV. 

Damaskeening is partly Mosaic work, partly engraving, and 
partly carving: as Mosaic work, it consists of pieces inlaid ; as 
engraving, the metal is indented or cut in creux ; and as carving, 
gold and silver are wrought therein in relievo. 

PARCHMENT. 

This article, of so much utility, was invented by Eumenes II. 
king of Pergamus, b.c. 198, in consequence of the prohibition of 
the export of papyrus from Egypt, by Ptolemy Epiphanes. The 
name Pergamena has been thought to prove its invention at that 
place. It was anciently called membrana, which is the word 
used in the Greek Testament, 2 Tim. iv. 13. 

MAPS AND SEA CHARTS 

Were first brought into England by Bartholomew Columbus, 
to illustrate his brother’s theory respecting a western continent, 
in 1489. 


GUTTA PERCHA. 

Gutta Percha (pronounced pertshd) possesses as great an in¬ 
destructibility by means of chemical agents as caoutchouc. It 
has an intermediate consistence between that of leather and wood ; 
it is capable of being softened by heat, and of regaining its 
primitive consistence on cooling. The Isonandra gutta , belong¬ 
ing to the natural order Sapotaceoe , is the only tree which yields 
gutta percha. It grows scarcely any where except in certain 
parts of the Malayan Archipelago, and up to the present time 
has been almost exclusively obtained from Singapore. It was 
first brought into England in the days of Tradescant, and was 
then call Mazer wood , and subsequently it was brought from 
China under the name of India rubber. In 1843, Doctors 


/ 


78 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 





B’Almeida and W. Montgomery drew particular attention to it, 
together with its singular properties, its easy manipulations, and 
the uses for which the Malays employed it. In 1845 the impor¬ 
tation was only 20,600 lbs; but in 1848 it had increased to above 
3,000,000 lbs. 

CHIMNEYS AND CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS. 

The oldest certain account of chimneys occurs in the year 1347; 
when at Venice a great number were thrown down by an earth¬ 
quake. He Gataris says, in his History of Padua, that Francesco 
de Carraro, Lord of Padua, came to Rome in 1368, and finding 
no chimneys in the inn where he lodged, because at that time fire 
used to be kindled in a hole in the middle of the floor, with an 
aperture in the roof for the escape of the smoke), he caused two 
chimneys, like those which had been long used at Padua, to be 
constructed and arched by masons and carpenters, whom he had 
brought with him. Over these chimneys, the first ever seen in 
Rome, he affixed his arms to record the event. 

It is uncertain at what period chimneys were first introduced 
into England, some have gone so far as to say, that they were 
known and used here as far back as 1300, but they do not sub¬ 
stantiate what they write. Holinshed, who -wrote in the reign 
of queen Elizabeth, informs us there w T ere few chimneys, even in 
capital towns: the fire was laid to the wall, and the smoke 
issued at the roof, or door, or window. As the general class of 
houses at that period did not exceed one story high, where the 
chimney did tower above the house, it was not a very difficult 
matter to cleanse it: very few chimneys however did, as they 
terminated with the roof or gable, consequently they were easily 
kept clean. 

A long broom, or brush, was first used for the purpose, such 
as we see in churches and other public buildings, and as the 
chimneys were built quite straight, it answered the purpose ex¬ 
ceedingly well. Of course the party mounted the roof and swept 
downwards. On the accession of James I. to the English crown, 
the Scotch fashion of building houses, three and four stories high, 
was first introduced; and it was about this period that climbing 
boys were first employed for the cleansing of chimneys. The 
little sweepers, however, for the last half century have become 
objects of particular care with the legislature. Since the Act 
4 and 5 Will. IV., no child who is under ten years of age can be 
apprenticed to a chimney-sweeper. Various methods, too, have 
recently been projected for cleansing chimneys by mechanical 
means, of which the most successful was that by Mr. George 
Smart. The principal parts of the machine are a brush, some 
hollow tubes which fasten into each other by means of brass 
sockets, and a cord for connecting the whole together. 

May Hay, is commonly called Chimney-Sweepers’ Hay. It was 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


79 


on this day that their late excellent friend, Mrs. Montague,* 
entertained them at her house in Portman Square ; she gave 
them roast beef and plum pudding, and a shilling each, and they 
danced after their dinner. In London, May Day still remains 
the great festival of the sweeps, who are frequently accompanied 
with Jack-in-tlie-Green, and liis usual group of grotesque atten¬ 
dants. 

PRUSSIAN BLUE. 

This colour was accidentally discovered about the beginning of 
last century, by a chemist of Berlin, in 1740, who, having succes¬ 
sively thrown upon the ground several liquors from his labora¬ 
tory, was much surprised to see it suddenly stained with a 
beautiful blue colour. 

Recollecting what liquors he had thrown out, and observing 
the same effects from a similar mixture, he afterwards prepared it 
for the use of the painters. From the place (Berlin) where it 
was discovered, being the capital of Prussia, it received the name 
of Prussian Blue. 


LAMP BLACK. 

Lamp Black, or Lamb Black, as it is usually called, is the soot 
of oil; it is made by burning a number of lamps in a confined 
place, from whence no part of the fumes can escape, and the soot 
formed against the top and sides of the room is swept together 
and collected. In England it is manufactured at the turpentine 
houses, from the dregs of the resinous matters prepared there, 
which are set on fire under a chimney, or other place made for 
the purpose, lined with sheep-skins,+ &c., to receive the soot. 

GALVANISM. 

The discovery of the effects of electricity on animals, states the 
Eloge de Galvani, took place, at the time, from something like 
accident. The wife of Galvani, at that time Professor of Anatomy 
in the University of Bologna, being in a declining state of health, 
employed as a restorative, according to the custom of the country, 
a soup made of frogs. A number of these animals, ready skinned 
for the purpose of cooking, were lying, with that comfortable 
negligence common both to French and Italians (which allows 
them, without repugnance, to do every thing in every place that 
is at the moment most convenient), in the professor’s laboratory, 
near an electric machine; it being probably the intention of the 
lady to cook them there. While the machine was in action, an 
attendant happened to touch with the point of the scalpel the 

* A young Montague was once kidnapped and sold to a sweep, but 
afterwards recovered.— Ed. 

f Probably Za/nfr-skins, from whence it may have been called lamb- black. 


80 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


crural nerve of one of tlie frogs, that was not far from the 
prime conductor, when the limbs were thrown into strong con¬ 
vulsions. This experiment was performed in the absence of the 
professor, but it was noticed by the lady, who was much 
struck by the appearance, and communicated it to her husband. 
He repeated the experiment, varied it in different ways, and 
perceived that the convulsions only took place when a spark 
was drawn from the prime conductor, while the nerve was at 
the same time touched with a substance which was a conductor 
of electricity. 

GAS. 

The existence and inflammability of coal gas have been known 
for nearly 200 years. In 1059, Thomas Shirley correctly at¬ 
tributed the exhalations from the burning well of Wigan in 
Lancashire to the Coal beds which lie under that part of the 
country; and soon after Dr. Clayton, influenced by the rea¬ 
soning of Shirley, actually made Coal-gas, and detailed the 
result of his labours to the Hon. Robert Boyle, who died in 
1691. In the year 1733, Sir* Janies Lowther communicated to 
the Royal Society, a curious notice of a spontaneous evolution 
of gas at a colliery belonging to him near Whitehaven. But 
the application of gas to the purposes of economical illumina¬ 
tion is of much more recent date, and the merit of introducing 
it is principally due to Mr. Murdoch. In 1792, he first tried 
it in Cornwall; and in 1798, established an apparatus upon a 
more extended scale at Boulton and Watt’s foundery at Bir¬ 
mingham ; and it was there that the first public display of gas¬ 
lights was made in 1802, upon the occasion of the rejoicing for 
peace. These, however, were but imperfect trials, when com¬ 
pared with that made in 1805 at Messrs Phillips and Lee’s 
cotton mills at Manchester, and upon the results of which all 
subsequent procedures, with regard to gas-lighting, have been 
founded. 

LIGHT-HOUSES. 

The most celebrated Light-House of ancient times was that 
erected about b.c. 283, in the Reign of Ptolommus Philadel- 
phus, on the Island of Pharos, opposite to Alexandria. The use 
of mirrors for reflecting light-houses in England, is of very re¬ 
cent date; and, although the idea was not suggested by the 
falling of an apple, nor the dissection of a frog, it owes its origin to 
a circumstance almost as trivial, which is as follows:—At a meet¬ 
ing of a society of mathematicians at Liverpool, one of the 
members proposed to lay a wager, that he would read a para¬ 
graph of a newspaper at ten yards’ distance with the light of a 
farthing candle. The wager was laid, and the proposer covered 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


81 


the inside of a wooden dish with pieces of looking-glass, fastened 
in with glazier’s putty, placed his reflector behind the candle, and 
won the wager. One of the company marked this experiment 
with a philosophic eye. This was Captain Hutchinson, the 
dockmaster. With him originated those Reflecting Light-Houses 
at Liverpool, which were erected in 17G3. 


ELECTRICITY. 

The first idea given of Electricity was by two globes of brim¬ 
stone, in 1467 ; electric stroke discovered at Leyden, 1746 ; first 
known it would fire spirits, 1756 ; that of the Aurora Borealis 
and of lightning, in 1769. 

ORIGIN OF COAL. 

Geologists have given great scope to their inventive faculties, 
in endeavouring to determine the sources and origin of coal; but 
every thing tends to show its vegetable origin, and specimens of 
a regular succession of wood, little changed, and ending with 
coal, in which all organic traces are lost, have occurred. And 
even in the most perfect coal some relic is often found, some trace 
of vegetable texture, some fibrous remain, that clearly announced 
its ligneous origin. In the leaves that appear in bovey-coal, for 
instance, resin and extractive matter have been found, and also a 
substance uniting the properties of resin and bitumen; and the 
same substance has been found in the principal coal-field of 
Staffordshire. Perhaps, therefore, antediluvian timber and peat¬ 
bog may have been the parents of our coal-strata ; but then, it 
will be asked, how has this mighty change been effected ? Is it 
merely by aqueous agency, a kind of decay and rotting-down of 
the wood; or has fire been called into action, torrefying the 
vegetable matter, and the pressure under which it has operated, 
preventing the escape of volatile matter, caused the formation of 
bitumen ? And are those reservoirs of compressed carburetted 
hydrogen, from which blowers result, to be ascribed to such a 
mode of formation !—Panoramic Miscellany. 

On the authority of chronology, this useful and necessary 
mineral was first discovered near Newcastle, in the year 1234. 

Another writer says : Those invaluable black diamonds, called 
Coals, seem to have been known to the ancient Greeks. Theo¬ 
phrastus, the scholar of Aristotle, about two thousand years ago, 
in describing lithanthrax, or the stone coal , says : Those fossil sub¬ 
stances that are called coals, and are broken for use, are earthy; 
they kindle, however, and burn like wood coals. 

The primeval Britons were indisputably acquainted with this 
fuel, which, according to Pennant, they called Glo. The Anglo- 

G 


82 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Saxons called it Col; the Dutch, Kole; the Danes, Kul; the Irish, 
Ougal; and the Cornish, Kolan. 

COALS IN LONDON, 

Stowe says, coals were first used in London in the reign of Ed¬ 
ward I., and the smoke was supposed to corrupt the air so much, 
that he forbade the use of them by proclamation. These procla¬ 
mations are noticed in Prynne’s Animadversions on the Fourth 
Part of Sir Edward Coke's Institutes , p. 182, where it is said, 
that “ in the latter part of the reign of Edward I., when brewers, 
dyers, and other artificers using great fires, began to use sea-coals 
instead of dry wood and charcoal, in and near the city of London, 
the prelates, nobles, commons, and other people of the realm, 
resorting thither to parliaments, and upon other occasions, with 
the inhabitants of the city, Southwark, Wapping, and East 
Smithfield, complained thereof twice, one after another, to the 
king as a public nuisance, corrupting the air with its stink and 
smoke, to the great prejudice and detriment of their health. 
Whereupon the king first prohibited the burning of sea-coal by 
his proclamation ; which being disobeyed by many for their 
private lucre, the king upon their second complaint issued a 
commission of Oyer and Terminer to inquire of all such who 
burned sea-coals against his proclamation within the city, or 
parts adjoining to it, and to punish them for their first offence 
by great fines and ransoms; and for the second offence to 
demolish their furnaces, kilns wherein they burnt sea-coals, and 
to see his proclamation strictly observed for times to come, as 
the Pecord of 35 Edw. I. informs us.” 

Charles II., son of Charles the Martyr, king of Great Britain, 
France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, a most gracious 
prince, commiserating the deplorable state of things, whilst the 
ruins were yet smoking provided for the comfort of his citizens, 
and the ornament of his city ; remitted their taxes, and referred 
the petitions of the magistrates and inhabitants to the parlia¬ 
ment ; who immediately passed an act, that public works should 
be restored to greater beauty, with public money, to he raised by 
an imposition on coals; that churches, and the ’cathedral of St. 
Paul’s, should be rebuilt from their foundations, with all 
magnificence ; that the bridges, gates, and prisons should be new 
made, the sewers cleansed, the streets made straight and regular, 
such as were steep levelled, and those too narrow made wider, and 
markets and shambles removed to separate places. They also 
enacted, that every house should be built with party walls, and 
all in front raised of an equal height, and those walls all of square 
stone, or brick ; and that no man should delay building beyond 
the space of seven years. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


83 


CANDLES. 

The origin of candles is obscure. Frequent mention is made 
of them in the Scriptures ; but from the description of the 
candlestick of gold made by Moses, it is more than probable that 
the Hebrew expression translated “ candle ” really means lamp ; 
for in Leviticus xxiv. 4, the Lord directs that Aaron shall order 
the lamps upon the pure candlestick, and in verse 2 of the same 
chapter, the fuel used in the lamps is shown to have been olive 
oil. Wax was employed by the classical ancients for candles, 
the wick being made of rope and leaves of the papyrus ; and such 
candles were carried by children at marriages, and were used at 
funerals. The Emperor Constantine, about the beginning of the 
fourth century, caused the whole city of Constantinople to be 
illuminated with lamps and wax-candles on Christmas Eve. 
That wax-candles were not made in the Saxon period by regular 
chandlers, as now, appears from the description of King Allred’s 
device for marking the hours of the day by the consumption of 
candles, six of which, lighted in succession, burned exactly 
twenty-four hours. There can be no doubt, however, that the 
occupation of the wax-chandler existed in England at a very 
early period, as well for the manufacture of tapers for religious 
rites, as for the preserving of the bodies of important personages 
in waxed cloths, which was called cering them. 

CALLIGRAPHY, OR THE ART OF WRITING. 

Writing, or the art of Calligraphy, is of uncertain data. 
Hieroglyphics were the first characters used, and there is little 
doubt but that we are indebted to the ancient Greeks for those 
less doubtful characters which we now employ. The English, 
French, and Italians, are considered to have cultivated this art 
with more success than other nations. It has, however, been 
stupidly considered as incompatible with the character of a 
gentleman to write a good hand. 

Dr. Parr used to observe, that he unfortunately accustomed 
himself to write rapidly, but not well, and lamented the con¬ 
sequences, as his MSS. were often returned as unintelligible. He 
concludes his lamentation over his own bad writing, by remind¬ 
ing those who deemed Calligraphy an accomplishment unworthy 
of a scholar and a gentleman, that in the art of writing Mr. Fox 
was eminently distinguished by the clearness and firmness, Mr. 
Porson by the correctness and elegance, and Sir Wm. Jones by 
the ease, beauty, and variety of the characters they respectively 
employed. 


84 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


RISE AND PROGRESS OP THE STAGE, ORIGIN OP VARIOUS POPULAR 
ANTHEMS, PLAYS, SONGS, &c., &c. 


TRAGEDY. 

Tragedy, like other arts, was rude and imperfect in its 
commencement. Among the Greeks, from whom our dramatic 
entertainments are derived, the origin of this art was no other 
than the song which was commonly sung at the festival of 
Bacchus. 

A goat was the sacrifice offered to that god. After the 
sacrifice, the priests, and all the company attending, sung hymns 
in honour of Bacchus ; and from the name of the victim^ rpayo f , a 
goat, joined with uU, a song, undoubtedly arose the word tragedy . 

“ At first, the tragedy was void of art; 

A song where each man danced and sung his part, 

And of god Bacchus roaring out the praise, 

Sought a good vintage for their jolly days; 

Then wine and joy were seen in each man’s eves. 

And a fat goat was the best singer’s prize. 

Thespis was first, who, all besmear’d with lee, 

Began this pleasure for posterity; 

And with his carted actors, and a song. 

Amused the people as he pass’d along" 

Next JEschylus the diffrent persons placed, 

And with a better mask his players graced ; 

Upon a theatre his verse express’d. 

And show’d his hero with a buskin dress’d. 

Then Sophocles, the genius of the age, 

Increased the pomp and beauty of the staq-e; 

Engaged the chorus song in ev’ry part, 

And polish’d rugged verse by rides of art "—JDryden. 

ORATORIOS. 

The oratorio commenced with the fathers of the Oratory. In 
order to draw youth to church, they had hymns, psalms, and 
spiritual songs, or cantatas, sung either in chorus, or by a simde 
voice. These pieces were divided into two parts, the one p?r- 
forined before the sermon, and the other after it. Sacred stories 
or events from Scripture, written in verse, and by way of 
dialogue, weie set to music, and the first part being performed 
the sermon succeeded, which the people were induced to stay and 
hear, that they might be present at the performance of the 
second part. The order has been recently revived in London 
under the auspices of Father Newman and Mr. Faber. 

The subjects in early times were the Good Samaritan, the Pro- 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


85 


digal Son, Tobit with the Angel, his Father, and his Wife, and 
similar histories, which by the excellence of' the composition, the 
band of instruments, and the performance, brought the Oratory 
into great repute; hence this species of musical drama obtained 
the general appellation of Oratorio. The Oratorio was intro¬ 
duced into England in 1720, when Handel set “Esther” for the 
Chapel of the Duke of Chandos at Cannons. This was, in the 
year 1732, performed by the children of the Chapel Royal at the 
King’s Theatre. For a period of about a century, with few 
interruptions, Oratorios were performed at one or other of the 
London theatres on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent. Within 
the last few years they have been performed almost weekly at 
Exeter Hall. 


RELIGIOUS PLAYS. 

Apollinarius, who lived in the time of the emperor Julian, 
wrote religious odes, and turned particular histories, and portions 
of the Old and New Testament, into comedies and tragedies, 
after the manner of Menander, Euripides, and Pindar. These 
were called Mysteries, and were the first dramatic performances. 
The first dramatic representation in Italy was a spiritual comedy, 
performed at Padua, in 1243 ; and there was a company instituted 
at Rome, in 1264, whose chief employment was to represent the 
sufferings of Christ in Passion Week. The Rev. Mr. Croft, and 
the Hon. Topham Beauclerc, collected a great number of these 
Italian Plays or Mysteries ; and at the sale of their libraries, Dr. 
Burney purchased many of the most ancient, which he speaks of 
as being evidently much earlier than the discovery of printing, 
from the gross manner in which the subjects are treated, the 
coarseness of the dialogue, and the ridiculous situation into which 
most sacred persons and things are thrown. 

In 1313, Philip the Fair gave the most sumptuous entertain¬ 
ment at Paris ever remembered in that city. Edward II. and 
his queen Isabella crossed over from England with a large 
retinue of nobility, and partook of the magnificent festivities. 
The pomp and profusion of the banquetings, the variety of the 
amusements, and the splendour of the costume, were unsurpassed. 
On the occasion, Religious Plays were represented of the Glory 
of the Blessed, and at other times with the Torments of the 
Damned, and various other spectacles. 

The Religious Guild, or fraternity of Corpus Christi, at York, 
was obliged annually to perform a Corpus Christi play. But 
the more eminent performers of mysteries were the Society of 
Parish Clerks of London. On the 18th, 19th, and 20th of July, 
1390, they played Interludes at the Skinners’ Well, as the usual 
place of their performance, before king Richard II., his queen, 
and their court; and at the same place, in 1490, they played the 
Creation of the World. The first trace of theatrical perform- 


8G 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ance, however, in this country, is recorded by Matthew Paris, 
who wrote about 1240, and relates that Geoffrey, a learned 
Norman, master of the school of the abbey of Dunstable, com¬ 
posed the play of St. Catherine, which was acted by his scholars. 
Geoffrey’s performance took place in the year 1110, and he 
borrowed copes from the sacrist of St. Albans to dress his 
cli^rSiCiiGrs 

" In the reign of Henry YU., 1487, that king, in his castle at 
Winchester, was entertained on a Sunday, while at dinner, with 
the performance of Christ’s Descent into Hell; and on the Feast 
of St. Margaret, in 1511, the miracle play of the Holy Martyr St. 
George was acted on a stage, in an open field at Bassingborne, 
in Cambridgeshire, at which were a minstrel and three waits, 
hired from Cambridge, with a property-man and a painter. 

Thus, it appears that the earliest dramatic performances were 
of a religious nature, and that the present drama, as will be seen 
in another article, takes its data from the 16th century. 

PUBLIC THEATRES IN ROME. 

The first public theatre opened in Rome, was in 1671 ; and in 
1677, the Opera was established in Venice. In 1680, at Padua, 
the opera of Berenice was performed, in a style which makes all 
the processions and stage parapliarnalia of modern times shrink 
into insignificance. 


RISE OF TIIE DRAMA IN ENGLAND. 

William Fitzstephen, a monk of Canterbury, who wrote in the 
reign of Henry II., and died in 1191, in speaking of the perform¬ 
ances of the stage, says, “ London, instead of common Interludes 
belonging to the theatre, hath plays of a more holy subject; re¬ 
presentations of those miracles which the holy confessors wrought, 
or of the sufferings wherein the glorious constancy of the martyrs 
did appear.” In the reign of Edward III., it was ordained by 
the act of parliament, that the strollers should be whipt and 
banished out of London, on account of the scandalous masque¬ 
rades which they represented. By these masquerades we are to 
understand, a species of entertainment similar to the performances 
of the mummers; of which some remains were to be met with, 
so late as on Christmas Eve, 1817, in an obscure village in Cum¬ 
berland, where there was a numerous party of them. Their 
drama related to some historical subject, and several of the 
speeches were in verse, and delivered in good emphasis. The 
whole concluded with a battle, in which one of the heroes was 
subdued; but the main character was a jester, who constantly 
interrupted the heroics with his buffoonery, like the clown in the 
tragedies of Calderon, the Spanish Shakspeare. The play of Hock 














THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


87 


Tuesday, performed before queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, was 
in dumb-show, the actors not having had time to get their parts. 
It represented, says Dr. Percy, in his Reliques of Ancient Poetry, 
after Laneham, the outrage and insupportable insolency of the 
Danes, the grievous complaint of Huna, king Ethelred’s chieftain 
in wars; his counselling and contriving the plot to dispatch 
them; concluding with conflicts (between Danish and English 
warriors), and their final suppression, expressed in actions and 
rhymes after their manner. One can hardly conceive a more 
regular model of a complete tragedy. The drama in England, 
undoubtedly arose much in the same way as it did in Greece. 
The strollers, or vagrants, with their theatres in the yards of 
inns, answer to the company and exhibitions of Thespis; and the 
improvements were gradual, till at last, to use the words of Sir 
George Buck, who wrote in 1631, dramatic poesy is so lively 
expressed and represented upon the public stages and the 
theatres of this city (London), as Borne, in the highest pitch of 
her pomp and glory, never saw it better performed. 

ANCIENT PLAYHOUSES AND BEAR-GARDENS, <fcc., IN LONDON 

AND SOUTHWARK. 

The most ancient playhouses, says an intelligent writer, i. e., 
those of London, were the Curtain in Shoreditch, and the Theatre 
in Holywell Lane. In Stowe’s Chronicle, p. 349, edit. 1598, occurs 
a notice of both the Theatre and the Curtain:—“And near unto 
Holywell Priory are builded two public houses for the acting and 
show of comedies, tragedies, and histories for recreation: where¬ 
of one is called the Curtain, the other the Theatre, both stand¬ 
ing on the south-west side towards the field.” 

In Birch’s View of London , which is very rare, there i s a 
representation of the Fortune Playhouse, with a flag before the 
door;* it was situated between Whitecross Street and Golden 
Lane. The original structure which stood here, was appointed 
for the nursery of the children of king Henry VIII. The lease 
was purchased by Edward Alleyn, Esq., founder of Dulwich 
Hospital, and he formed it into a theatre, denominated The 
Fortune, and finished it in 1599. In 1621, the whole building, 
and the theatrical property, were destroyed by fire. After being 
rebuilt, it was offered for sale in 1661, and then was of sufficient 
space to afford twenty-three tenements and gardens, and a street, 
now called Playhouse Yard; which is at present occupied by 
dealers in old clothes. 

The Red Bull Playhouse, stood on a spot of ground lately 
called Red Bull Yard, near the upper end of St. John’s Street, 
Clerkenwell, and is traditionally said to have been the theatre 
at which Shakspeare first held gentlemen’s horses. In the civil 
* A. necessary appendage at playhouses in former days. 


88 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


wars it became celebrated for the representation of drolls; and 
Francis Kirkman, in 1672, published a collection of these pieces, 
the frontispiece of which exhibits the inside of this theatre. 

The Swan Theatre was the most westerly of the playhouses on 
Bankside, and must have stood at no great distance from the 
Surrey end of Blackfriars’ Bridge. It was a large house, and 
flourished only a few years, being suppressed at the commence¬ 
ment of the civil wars. It is represented in the Antwerp View of 
London , now in the possession of John Dent, Esq. 

A little to the West of St. Mary Overie, in a place called 
Globe Alley, stood, says Pennant, the Globe, immortalized by 
having been the theatre on which Shakspeare first trod the stage, 
but in no higher character than the Ghost, in his own play of 
Hamlet. It appears to have been of an octagonal form, and is 
said to have been covered with rushes. The door was very lately 
standing. James I. granted a patent to Laurence Fletcher, 
William Shakspeare, Richard Burbage (the first performer of 
Richard the Third), Augustine Pliillipes, Jolm Hemmings, Hen- 
rie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armin, and Richard Cowlie, 
and others of His Majesty’s Servants, to act here, or in any 
other part of the kingdom. 

Near the water, on Bankside, stood Paris Garden, one of the 
ancient playhouses. It seems to have been much frequented on 
Sundays. This profanation was at length fully punished by the 
dire accident which Heaven directed, and befell the spectators, 
when the scaffolding suddenly fell, and multitudes of people 
were suddenly killed or miserably maimed. The omen seems to 
have been accepted; for in the next century the manor of Paris 
Garden was erected into a parish, and a church founded under 
the name of Christ’s. 

The following is a list of the theatres erected between 1575 
and 1600:— 


The Theatre. 1575 

The Curtain. 1575 

The Blackfriars . 1576 

The Whitefriars . 1576 

Newington Theatre . 1580 

The Rose . 1585 


The Hope. 1585 

Paris Garden . 1588 

The Globe. 1594 

The Swan. 1595 


The Fortune, Golden Lane ... 1599 


In the early part of Shakspeare’s acquaintance with the theatre, 
the want of scenery seems to have been supplied by the simple 
expedient of writing the names of the different places where 
the scene was laid. The covering, or intended roof of the stage, 
was anciently termed the heavens. Many of the companies of 
the players were formerly so thin, that one person played two 
or three parts; and a battle, on which the fate of an empire was 
supposed to depend, was decided by half a dozen combatants. 
The person who spoke the prologue was ushered in by trumpets, 













THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


89 


and usually wore a long black velvet cloak, which is still retained 
in the play of Hamlet, as exhibited before the king and court of 
Denmark. Most, if not all, of Shakspeare’s plays, were per¬ 
formed either at the Globe, or at the theatre in Blackfriars, 
which was a private playhouse, and usually performed by 
candlelight. In the other theatres they commenced at one 
o’clock in the afternoon, and the exhibition was usually finished 
in two hours; and so late as 1667, they commenced at three 
o’clock. 

Scenes first made their appearance upon the English stage in 
1662, at the opening of the Duke of York’s Theatre in Lincoln’s 
Inn Fields, which was opened by Sir William Davenarit with 
one of his own plays, The Siege of Rhodes. 

DRAMATIC CENSORSHIP. 

Henry Fielding having ridiculed the ministry in his two plays 
of Pasquin and the Historic Register, a piece called the Golden 
Rump, which never was acted, never appeared in print, nor was 
it ever known who was the author, was sent anonymously to Mr. 
Henry Giffard, the manager of Goodman’s Fields theatre, for 
representation. In this piece the most unbounded abuse was 
vented, not only against parliament, the council, and ministry, 
but even against the person of the king himself. The honest 
manager, free from design himself, suspecting none in others, but 
imagining that a licence of this kind, if permitted to run to such 
enormous lengths, would be attended with pernicious conse¬ 
quences to his interest, quickly perceived the snare, and carried 
the piece to the minister, with a view of consulting him upon it. 

The latter commended highly his integrity in this step, 
requested only the MS., ’ but at the same time, that the man¬ 
ager might be no loser by his zeal for the interests of his king 
and country, ordered a gratuity equal to what he might have 
expected from the profits of representation. The minister in¬ 
stantly made use of the manuscript play, to introduce and pass a 
bill in parliament for limiting the number of theatres, and sub¬ 
mitting every dramatic piece to the inspection of the lord cham¬ 
berlain, previous to its appearance on the stage. 

SOLDIERS DOING DUTY AT THE THEATRES-ROYAL. 

In the reign of George the Second, when Quin acted in Lin¬ 
coln’s Inn Fields theatre, it occurred one night, during the per¬ 
formance of the Beggar’s Opera, it being then a prevailing custom 
to admit noblemen and gentlemen behind the scenes, that one of 
them, a warm-tempered person, flushed with potent libations of 
usquebaugh, in a very interesting scene of the opera, crossed the 
stage, amidst the performers. Quin was behind the scenes, and 


90 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


expostulated with the nobleman on the impropriety of his conduct. 
The latter on this struck Quin in the face, who returned the blow. 
This being witnessed by the nobleman’s companions, they drew 
their swords, and a general fight ensued. The police of the town 
not being under such strict regulations as it is at present, nor by 
any means so numerous and effective, the proprietors called in the 
interference of the district watchmen, such characters as Dog¬ 
berry, Verges, &c., and the noblemen were given in charge to 
them. They were kept in custody all night, and examined the 
next morning before the magistrates, and held to bail, when they 
made restitution and were discharged. His Majesty, hearing of 
the outrage, sent privately for a few of the ringleaders, whom he 
lectured rather severely on their improper conduct; and, to pre¬ 
vent the occurrence of such an outrage, the king was pleased to 
order that the guards should in future do duty every play night, 
which custom has never been dispensed with since. 

ACTORS MAKING A TRADE OF THEIR PROFESSION. 

Actors, prior to the year 1578, were retainers to the court and 
the nobility, and none had the privilege to act but such, except 
the Compauy of Parish Clerks, in religious plays, &c. Stowe says, 
speaking of the former, “ This was at once a recreation, and used 
therefore, now and then occasionally, but afterwards by abuse 
became a trade and calling, and so remains to this day.” 

ORIGINAL THEATRICAL STAGES IN ENGLAND. 

Most of our early dramatic pieces were performed in the yards 
of inns, in which, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the 
comedians, who then first united themselves in companies, erected 
an occasional stage. The spectators viewed the performances 
from galleries or corridors, which at that time generally ran 
round the court-yards of inns; many of which may still yet be 
seen in the city of London and the Borough, and some slight 
remains of them exist in the Eagle Inn Yard, and the Falcon Inn 
Yard, Cambridge. In the latter, there are remains on one side 
of two tiers of railed galleries, of one tier at the opposite side, and 
one tier at the end; the stage, we may reasonably suppose, was 
on the fourth side. The Falcon Inn ceases to exist there, but the 
area still bears the name. There are slight vestiges of a gallery 
of this nature at the Black Bear Inn Yard, Cambridge, where, 
upon May 28, 1600, an interlude was performed, at which one 
Dominus Pepper was seen with an improper habit, having de¬ 
formed long locks of an unseemly sight, and great breeches, 
indecent for a graduate or scholar of orderly carriage: therefore, 
the said Pepper was commanded to appear presently, and procure 
his hair to be cut or powled; and which being done, the said 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


91 


Pepper, returning to tlie consistory, was there suspended, ab 
omni gradu suscepto et suscipiendo. In October 1812, an order 
was made by St. Jolin’s and Trinity College, that every young 
man, who appeared in hall or chapel in pantaloons or trousers, 
should be considered as absent .—Retrospective Review. 

BEGGAR’S OPERA. 

Attempts had been made, from time to time, to introduce musical 
dramas upon the Italian model on the English stage; but the 
scheme was not successfully brought to bear until the beginning 
of the last century. The novelty, patronised by the royal family 
and people of fashion, superseded the regular drama, and Shak- 
speare and Jonson, with other worthies, were forgotten, until the 
rage for music began to subside in a violent schism among the 
patrons and the performers, when the contending parties, tired of 
the war, and the perfidious lords and ladies withdrawing their 
alliance, the Beggar’s Opera by John Gay burst forth in 1727, 
and the Italian opera was fairly, or as unfairly as many thought, 
hunted down. 

Bonancini, a celebrated Italian composer, was ungraciously 
pitted against the great German, Handel. Cuzzoni and Faustina, 
two rival syrens, set the fashionables at war. Lady Pembroke 
headed one party, Lady Burlington the other. The wits enjoyed 
the sport, and sided with none. Hence Swift’s epigram: 

“ Strange that difference should be 
’Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.” 

It may be remarked here, that the first female who ever per¬ 
formed Polly Peachum in the Beggar’s Opera, viz. Miss Fenton, 
afterwards became Duchess of Bolton. 

GARRICK’S FIRST PLAY-BILL. 

When Garrick quitted Ipswich, where he played a few nights 
in a provincial company, he repaired to London; but it appears 
he was unable to get an engagement at any of the great houses. 
He was then obliged to join the company in Goodman’s Fields, 
who, to avoid being sent to prison as rogues and vagabonds for 
acting without a licence, presented plays to their audiences gratis, 
charging them only for the concerts. Here it was that the British 
Roscius, trembling with hope and fear, made his first bow as 
Richard the Third. 

The following is the copy of the bill:—Goodman’s Fields, 
October 19, 1741. At the Theatre in Goodman’s Fields, this day, 
will be performed, a Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music, 
divided into two parts.—Tickets at Three, Two, and One Shilling. 
_Places for the Boxes to be taken at the Fleece Tavern, next 


92 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM, 


door to the Theatre. N.B. Between the two parts of the Concert 
will be presented an historical Play, called the Life and Death of 
King Richard the Third ; containing the distresses of King Henry 
the Sixth; the artful acquisition of the Crown by Richard; the 
Murder of young Edward the Fifth and his brother in the Tower; 
the landing of the Earl of Richmond, and the Death of King 
Richard in the memorable Battle of Bosworth-field, being the last 
that was fought between the houses of York and Lancaster ; with 
other true historical passages. The part of King Richard by a 
Gentleman (Garrick) who never appeared on any stage; King 
Henry, Mr. Giffard; Richmond, by Mr. Marshall; Prince Edward, 
Miss Hippesley; Duke of York, Miss Naylor, &c.; with an 
entertainment of dancing, &c. To which will be added, a Ballad 
Opera in one act, called the Virgin Unmasked. Both of which 
will be performed by persons gratis , for diversion. The Concert 
to begin at Six o’Clock exactly.” 


FIRST ENGLISH ACTRESS. 


The first woman who appeared on the English stage was a 
Mrs. Coleman, who represented Ianthe, in Davenant’s Siege of 
Rhodes. This was in 1656. Up to that period, men enacted 
the women characters, dressed as such. 


PUNCH. 


It is very difficult to trace accurately the origin of any 
character of this description ; the reader, therefore, must be 
satisfied with an unconnected notice of it. 

In some of the old mysteries, wherein, no doubt, some of our 
readers are well read, the devil was the buffoon of the piece, and 
used to indulge himself most freely in the gross indecencies 
tolerated in the earlier ages. When those mysteries began to 
be refined into moralities, the Vice gradually superseded the 
former clown, if he may be so designated ; and at the commence¬ 
ment of such a change, frequently shared the comic part of the 
performance with him. The Vice was armed with a dagger of 
lath, with which he was to belabour the devil, who sometimes, 
however, at the conclusion of the piece, carried off the Vice with 
him. Here we have something like the club wielded by Punch, 
and the wand of Harlequin, at the present time, and a similar 
finish of the Devil and Punch may be seen daily in our streets. 

Thus much may be said of the origin of the character, and as 
to which most writers agree. The term Punch is an abbrevia¬ 
tion from the Italian ■policinello or punchincllo, which signifies a 
merry fool. 


COXCOMB. 


The fool, in the early drama, was frequently dressed in a 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


93 


motley or parti-coloured coat, and each leg clad in different 
coloured hose. A sort of hood covered his head, resembling a 
monk’s cowl: this was afterwards changed for a cap, each being 
usually surmounted with the neck and head of a cock, or some¬ 
times only the crest, or comb ; hence was derived the^ term 
Coxcomb. 

FOOLS. 

The custom of keeping fools for the purpose of producing 
amusement, ascends, as we are assured by the learned Fosbroke, 
to the classical ages. In Britain they were retained at court till 
the reign of Charles II., and in noblemen’s families till perhaps 
a somewhat later date. Even the dignitaries of the Church in 
the middle ages kept fools to make them laugh—or to laugh at 
them. Nay, the grave David I. of Scotland, who built so many 
churches and monasteries, had a jester. The Lord Mayor of 
London also had his fool, one of whose regular jokes it was, at 
the great annual feast, to leap, clothes and all, into a huge cus^ 
tard—a jest which certainly could not be considered as deficient 
in cream, however monotonous it would be apt to become from 
repetition. In those days, moreover, fools were often retained at 
taverns to keep the guests in good humour. 

PANTOMIME. 

Pantomime, or Pantomimic Mystery in its more extended sense, 
was known to the Greek and Roman stages, being introduced on 
the latter by Pylades and Bathyllus, in the time of Augustus 
Csesar. From that time to the present, different modifications 
of this representation have taken place on the continent, and the 
lofty scenes of ancient pantomime are degenerated to the bizarre 
adventures of Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Merryandrew. The 
first pantomime performed by grotesque characters in this country 
was at Drury Lane Theatre, in the year 1702. It was composed 
by Mr. Weaver, and called “The Tavern Bilkers.” In 1717, the 
first harlequinade was performed at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn 
Fields, called “ Harlequin Executed.” It was composed by Mr. 
Rich. 


HARLEQUIN. 

Writers differ as to the origin of the term Harlequin ; one 
says, “ There was a young Italian actor of eminence in this style 
of character, came to Paris in the time of Henry III. of France, 
and having been received into the house of the President, Achilles 
de Harlai, his brother actors are said to have called him Harle¬ 
quin, from the name of his master.” Another says, “ There was 
a knight called Harlequin, an extravagant dissipated man, who 
spent his substance in the wars of Charles Martel against the 


94 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Saracens, and afterwards lived by pillage.” Tradition says, lie 
was saved from perdition in consequence of his services against 
the infidels, but condemned for a certain time to appear nightly 
on earth, with those of his lineage. 

PANTALOON. 

The old character of Zany was similar to our modern clown, 
who now is generally the possessor of all the wit in the perform¬ 
ance. The name of Pantaloon is said to be derived from the 
watchword of the Venetians, pianta-leone ; if so (which is doubt¬ 
ful), it must have been applied in derision of their fallen state, 
as compared with their former splendour. 

MERRYANDREW. 

Some have derived the term Merryandrew from the time of 
the Druids, an Drieu , i. e., Arch-Druid; others, from the cele¬ 
brated Andrew Borde, the writer and empiric. The Merry¬ 
andrew used at fairs to wear a patched coat like the modern 
Harlequin, and sometimes a hunch on his back. It has been 
remarked, that the common people are apt to give some well- 
known facetious personage the name of a favourite dish ; hence the 
Jack-pudding of the English ; the Jean-potage of the French ; the 
Macaroni of the Italians ; the Hans Wurst of the Germans, &c. 

GOD SAVE THE KING. 

The simplicity and grandeur of “ God save the King,” is uni¬ 
versally admitted ; and much research has been bestowed in the 
endeavour to ascertain its origin. One writer says, This popular 
song was sung, as an anthem, at the Chapel Royal, in the reign 
of James II. It is uncertain by whom the words were written, 
but the music was composed by Dr. John Bull, belonging to the 
choir of that chapel. It first became a popular song (with the 
alteration of the name of our James to George), through the late 
Dr. Arne, who set it in parts, and introduced it at one of the 
London Theatres during the Irish rebellion in 1746, where it met 
with unbounded applause, and has continued to be a favourite 
national air from that period to the present time. 

The general opinion is, that it was composed by Henry Carey, 
as stated by W. Chappell in his National English Airs. About 
the year 1795, George Savile Carey asserted his father’s claim to 
the authorship of this song, and made a journey to Windsor, 
hoping to obtain some pecuniary recompense from the king. His 
claim was acquiesced in by Archdeacon Coxe, in his Anecdotes 
of J. C. Smith; and by Mr. S. Jones in his Biographia Dramatica. 
It was also proved, by concurrent testimonies, to have been 
originally sung, “ God save great James our King.” Add to this, 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


05 


that all attempts to prove a copy before Carey’s time have failed ; 
moreover, it is admitted that he sang it in public (announcing 
it as his own production) five years before the first publication ; 
and his not claiming it, when it attained its great popularity in 
1745, being explained by his having put an end to his existence 
three years before, at the advanced age of eighty, and leaving 
his son an infant. 


RULE BRITANNIA. 

The words of this celebrated national anthem, or song, were 
taken from Thomson’s “ Masque of Alfred,” and was composed 
by Doctor Arne. 


DRYDEN’S CELEBRATED ODE. 

Dryden’s Ode on the Power of Music is the most unrivalled 
of his compositions. By that strange fatality which seems to 
disqualify authors from judging of their own works, he does not 
appear to have valued this piece, because he totally omits it in 
the enumeration and criticism he has given of the rest, in his 
preface to his works. “ I shall add nothing to what I have 
already said on this subject (says Dr. Warton in his Essays on 
the Writings and Genius of Pope, vol. ii.), but only tell the occa¬ 
sion and manner of writing it. Mr. St. John, afterwards Lord 
Bolingbroke, happening to pay a morning visit to Dryden, whom 
he always respected, found him in an unusual agitation of spirits, 
even to a trembling. On enquiring the cause, ‘ I have been up 
all night,’ replied the old bard ; ‘ my musical friends made me 
promise to write them an Ode for the Feast of St. Cecilia. I have 
been so struck with the subject which occurred to me, that I 
could not leave it till I had completed it; here it is, finished at 
one sitting.’ And immediately he showed him this Ode, which 
places the British lyric poetry above that of any other nation. 
This anecdote, as true as it is curious, was imparted by Lord 
Bolingbroke to Pope, by Pope to Mr. Gilbert West, by him to 
his ingenious friend (Richard Berenger, Esq.), who communicated 
it to me. The rapidity, and yet the perspicuity of the thoughts, 
the glow and expressiveness of the images, these certain marks 
of the first sketch of a master, conspire to corroborate the truth 
of the fact.” 


CATHERINE AND PETRUCHIO. 

The play of Catherine and Petruchio, or the Taming of the 
Shrew, was derived from an Italian tale, called Silverio and 
Pizardo. See particulars, which would take up too much space 
here, in New London Gleaner, vol. ii., 1809. 


96 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


THE BALLAD, “ AULD ROBIN GRAY.” 

The following extract from a letter, written to the late Thomas 
Hammersley, Esq., by the Rev. Wm. Jervis, rector of Wrington, 
in Somersetshire, in June 1812, has been handed to us. It shows 
that the words of the ballad of Auld Robin Gray were written, 
by Lady Ann Lindsay, and that the music was composed by 
Wm. Jervis. A gentleman now residing in Edinburgh, paid 
intimately acquainted with the composer, can answer for the 
authenticity of this letter:— 

My dear Sir—Anxious as you have ever been for the sake of 
right, as well as for the fair fame of your friends, you have more 
than once solicited that I should publicly claim an offspring which, 
for more than forty years, has been of uncertain origin. Nothing 
could have induced me to undertake this at my time of life, but 
the offer of your kind testimony to the genuineness of this my 
early production, which an acquaintance with it in manuscript, 
long before it surreptitiously found its way to the public eye, 
enables you so convincingly to bear. As to the ballad or story, 
you may remember that I received it from the Hon. Mr. Byron, 
and understood it to have been written by Lady Ann Lindsay. 

THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL. 

This celebrated song was composed by William Upton, who 
published Poems on Several Occasions , 1788 ; and a Collection of 
Songs sung at Vauxhall , 1798. It was long popularly ascribed 
to the Prince Regent (George IV.) 

THE POPULAR ROMANCE, “CASTLE OF OTRANTO.” 

The ingenious author of this popular romance, in a letter to 
Mr. Cole, now in the British Museum, gives the following ac¬ 
count of its origin :—“ I waked one morning in the beginning of 
last June from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I 
had thought myself in an ancient castle, and that on the upper¬ 
most banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in 
armour. In the evening I sat down, and began to write, without 
knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate. The 
work grew on my hands, and I grew fond of it, so that I was very 
glad to think of any thing rather than politics. In short, I was 
so engrossed with my tale, which I completed in less than two 
months, that one evening I wrote from the time I had drank 
tea (about six o’clock) till half an hour past one in the morning, 
when my hands and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold 
my pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella 
talking in the middle of a paragraph.” 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


97 


EASTWARD HOE. 

The title of “ Eastward Hoe” was taken from the exclamations 
of watermen plying for hires on the Thames. Of this the play of 
“Eastward Hoe” furnishes some evidence; but with regard at 
least to another play, “ Westward Hoe,” it is clearly shown by the 
following quotation from George Peele’s old historical play of 
Edward the First, printed in 1593. The Queen is at Potter’s (after¬ 
wards called Queen’s) Hithe, and the stage direction when she has 
entered is— 

(Make a noise—-Westward, How!) 

Queen. —Woman, what noise is this I hear? 

Potter's Wife .—And like your Grace, it is the watermen that call for 
passengers to go to Westward, How. 


VELUTI IN SPECULUM. 

The stage motto, Yeluti in Speculum, or, As in a Mirror, was 
first used in the Theatre at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, in the reign of 
George I., about the same period when soldiers first mounted guard 
at the Theatres-Royal. 

THEATRICAL BENEFITS. 

Mrs. Barry is recorded as the first performer, male or female, 
who ever had what is now understood by the term, a benefit. 
This privilege was procured for her through the influence of James 
II., and she alone possessed it, until just before the commence¬ 
ment of the 18th century. The poverty of the divided theatrical 
companies then, induced the managers to employ this expedient 
for paying their actors and actresses more directly out of the 
pockets of the public; and it not unfrequently happened (at least 
the performers made the accusation) that the patentees appropri¬ 
ated to themselves all the proceeds, under the pretext of house 
expenses, and left the performers to their remedy. 


UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, PUBLIC LIBRARIES, RELIGIOUS 
SECTS, ORIGIN OF NICENE CREED, INQUISITION, &c. 


UNIVERSITIES 

ad tlieir first rise in the 12th and 13tli centuries. Those of 
s and Bologna Salerno are said to be the first that were set on 
but then they were on a different footing from the Univer- 
imong us. Our own Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 

h 




98 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


seem entitled to tlie greatest antiquity of any in the world; and 
Balliol and Merton Colleges in Oxford, and St. Peter’s in Cam¬ 
bridge, all made Colleges in the 13tli century, may be said to be 
the first regular endowments of this kind in Europe. For though 
University College in Cambridge had been a place for students 
ever since the year 872, yet this, like many of the other ancient 
Colleges beyond sea, and Leyden to this day, was no proper Col¬ 
lege ; but the students, without any distinction of habit, lived in 
citizens’ houses, having only meeting-places to hear lectures and 
disputes. In after times there were houses built for the students 
to live in society, only each to be at his own charge, as in the inns 
of court; these at first were called inns, but now halls. At last 
plentiful revenues were settled on several of these Halls, to main¬ 
tain the students in diet, apparel, &c., and these were called Colleges. 
In the University of Oxford there are 2220 members of convo¬ 
cation, and 4792 members on the boards. In the University of 
Cambridge there are 1854 members of the senate, and 4866 mem¬ 
bers on the boards, making a total of 9658 students on the boards 
at both Universities. In 1748, there were 1500 members on the 
Cambridge boards ; in 1813, there were 2805 ; in 1825, they had 
increased to 4700; and in 1826, to 4866, as above stated. The 
Universities of Scotland are four, St. Andrew’s, Aberdeen, Edin¬ 
burgh, and Glasgow. In Ireland there are two Universities, 
that of Dublin, incorporated 1591, and Queen’s, incorporated 1850. 

BALLIOL COLLEGE 

Was founded by John Balliol, or De Baliol, of Barnard Castle, 
in the County of Durham, about the year 1268, and from whence 
it derives the appellation of Balliol College. 

ORIEL COLLEGE. 

This College was founded by King Edward the Second in 1326. 

SORBONNE COLLEGE. 

Sorbon, or Sorbonne College, was the first and most considerable 
of the University of Paris. It was founded in the reign of St. 
Louis, 1252, by Robert Sorbonne, which name is sometimes given 
to the whole University of Paris. 

MERTON COLLEGE. 

Merton .College, in Oxford, derives its name from Walter de 
Merton, Bishop of Rochester, who founded it in 1274. 

EXETER COLLEGE. 

Exeter College, in Oxford, so denominated from Walter S* 
don, Bishop of Exeter, who founded it in 1314. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


99 


CLARE HALL. 

Clare Hall, in Cambridge, derives its name from Elizabeth, 
Countess of Clare, who founded it in 1347. It was established on 
the site of a former College called University Hall, founded in 
1326, but destroyed by fire in 1343. 

PEMBROKE COLLEGE. 

Pembroke College, formerly called Pembroke Hall, in Cam¬ 
bridge, receives its name from Mary de St. Paul, widow of Aymer 
de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who founded it in 1347. 

PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD. 

Pembroke College, Oxford, was founded in the early part of the 
17th century on the site of Broadgate Hall, an ancient semiuary 
for students of the civil and canon law. It received its name of 
Pembroke from William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, then Chan¬ 
cellor of the University. 

CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. 

Corpus Christi (vulgarly Benedict) College, in Cambridge, is 
so called in consequence of being founded by the brethren of the 
Guild, or Society of Corpus Christi, and the brethren of the Guild 
of the Blessed Virgin. Pounded 1351. 

CAIUS AND GONVILE COLLEGE. 

Caius and Gonvile College, in Cambridge, takes its names from 
its founder, Edmund Gonvile, rector of Tirrington and Push- 
worth, in Norfolk, who founded it in 1348, and Hr. John Caius, 
who, in 1557 having rebuilt it, erected a Chapel, and endowed 
three additional fellowships and 20 scholarships, obtained from 
Queen Mary leave to be a co-founder, and to change the name 
from Gonvile Hall to Gonvile and Caius College. 

LINCOLN COLLEGE. 

I 

Lincoln College, in Oxford, founded by Pichard Fleming, Bishop 
of Lincoln, and finished by Thomas Botheram, his successor, 1427. 

SYDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE. 

Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, receives its cognomen like¬ 
wise from its founder, Frances, daughter of Sir William Sydney, 
and Countess-Dowager of Sussex, who died in the year 1589. 



> ) 


100 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


WADHAM COLLEGE. 

Wadham College, in Oxford, derives its name from Nicholas 
Wadham, Esq., and Dame Dorothy, his wife, its founders. It was 
founded in 1612. 

BRAZEN NOSE. 

This College was founded by Wm. Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, and 
finished by Wm. Sutton, Esq., in 1513. Various have been the 
conjectures why it is called Brazen Nose College, but it is gene¬ 
rally attributed to the circumstance of its founder going by that 
nickname when at College, in consequence of the peculiar appear¬ 
ance of his nose. 


UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. 

This was projected in 1825, and the first stone was laid on 
the 30th April, 1827, by the Duke of Sussex, and the institution 
situated in Gower-street, St. Pancras, was opened for Students 
in October, 1828. In November, 1836, it was incorporated by a 
Boyal Charter, 7 William IV. The government is vested in 
five bodies:—1. General meetings of the Members. 2. The 
Council. 3. The Senate. 4. The Faculty of Arts and Laws. 5. 
The Faculty of Medicine. In 1834 an Hospital was opened in 
connection with it, which cost about £10,000, for the purpose 
of affording the medical students clinical instruction. The num¬ 
ber of students in 1852 was 186. Connected with it is a School 
under the government of the Council. Students, in 1852, 289. 

KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON. 

This College is in the Strand, and was founded in 1828, on 
the following fundamental principle:—That every system of 
general education ought to comprise instruction in the Chris¬ 
tian religion. A charter was granted in 1829, which appoints the 
Lord Chancellor and eight others as perpetual governors. The 
corporation is designated as “ The Governors and Proprietors of 
King’s College, London.” It was opened for tuition in October, 
1829. There is a School connected with it. The number of 
Students, in 1851, was as follows:—Department of general 
Literature, 111; Applied Sciences, 39; Medical, 196; Military, 
11; College School, 449. 

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. , 

This University was created by charter of William IV; but, 
owing to a defect, a new one was granted by Queen Victoria, 
December 5, 1837. It consists of a body of Fellows, including 
a Chancellor and Vice Chancellor, who compose a Senate hold¬ 
ing its sitting in Somerset House. The Senate, after examina- 













THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


101 


tion, confers the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, 
Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Laws, Bachelor of Medicine, and 
Doctor of Medicine. Both University and King’s Colleges, as 
well as other minor institutions, are empowered to issue certifi¬ 
cates to candidates for Degrees in Arts and Law at this Uni¬ 
versity. 

DULWICH COLLEGE. 

This College, which is situated at the pleasant village of Dul¬ 
wich, near London, was founded in the year 1619, by Edward 
Alleyn, a player. The College was for the support and main¬ 
tenance of one Master, one Warden, and four Fellows, three of 
whom were to be ecclesiastics and the other a skilful organist; 
also six poor men, six women, and twelve boys, to be educated in 
good literature. He was a very eccentric character, and imposed 
a condition in his will, that none should be eligible for a mas¬ 
ter of the said College but those of the name of Alleyn or 
Allen. 

This College is famed for the Burgeoise Picture Gallery, left 
to the public by the late Sir Francis Burgeoise, the eminent 
painter, whose remains rest here in a mausoleum contiguous to 
the gallery. The collection of paintings is very superior, and 
among them are to be found those of the most eminent masters 
particularly some of Murillo’s masterpieces. Sir Francis died 
January 8, 1811. 

RADCLIFFE LIBRARY. 

The celebrated library at Oxford, well known as the Bad elide 
Library, derives its name from Dr. John Badcliffe, who died 
in 1714. He was an eminent physician, and left £40,000 to 
the University of Oxford, for the augmenting their library, and 
which circumstance gave it its present name. 

COTTONIAN LIBRARY. 

The Cottonian Library, in the British Museum, derives its name 
from Sir Bobert Cotton, who founded it. He died 1631. 

BODLEIAN LIBRARY. 

This far-famed public library is so called after its founder, 
Sir Thomas Bodley, who was born 1544, and died 1612. The 
library was founded in the 40th of Elizabeth, 1598. 

ARUNDELIAN TABLES, OXFORD. 

These tables are so called from having been purchased by Lord 
Arundel, and by him given to the University of Oxford, in 1667. 


102 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


They contain the chronology of ancient history, from 1582 to 
355 b.c., and said to have been sculptured 264 b.c. They were 
found in the Isle of Paros about 1610. The characters are Greek, 
of which there are two translations. 

JESUITS. 

The Jesuits, or the Society of Jesus, derive their origin from 
one Ignatius, who was born in the Castle of Loyola in 1495, 
in Guipuscoa, a part of Biscay near the Pyrenees. He was 
bred up in the court of Charles V., and was famed for his 
licentious vices and pleasures. He went into the army, and 
served in the garrison of Pampeluna when besieged by the 
French in 1521, where he was wounded in the left leg, and had 
his right one broken. 

Ribadeneira, in his Lives of the Saints, says, that St. Peter 
appeared to Ignatius on the eve of his feast, and with a very 
gracious aspect said, that he was come to cure him. From the 
time of this visit, says this Chronicler of the Saints, Ignatius grew 
much better, and not long after recovered his perfect health; 
but as he was a spruce young gallant, desirous to appear in the 
most neat and comely fashion, he caused the end of a bone which 
stuck out under his knee, and did somewhat disfigure his leg, to 
be cut off, that so his boot might sit more handsomely, as he him¬ 
self told me, thinking it to be against his honour that such a 
deformity should be in his leg : nor would he be bound while 
the bone was sawed off. 

Another biographer of Ignatius says, that although he was 
restored to health, his right leg nevertheless remained shorter 
than his left. Attired in the coarsest garb, he made a pilgri¬ 
mage to Rome ; for, as there is but one step between the ludicrous 
and sublime, so Ignatius Loyola, or Ignatius of Loyola, was 
transformed from the gay and debonair to the self-mortifying 
saint. He soon met with those who were as enthusiastic as 
himself; and having assembled ten of them at Rome in the year 
1538, he proposed to substitute a new order, and for this pur¬ 
pose applied to Pope Paul III., then reigning. The historian 
Robertson says— 

“ The pope, to whom Loyola had applied for the sanction of his 
authority to confirm the institution, referred his petition to a 
Committee of Cardinals. They represented the establishment to 
be unnecessary, as well as dangerous, and Paul refused to grant 
his approbation of it. At last Loyola removed all his scruples, 
by an offer which it was impossible for any pope to resist. He 
proposed that, besides the three vows of poverty, of chastity, and 
of monastic obedience, which are common to all the orders of 
regulars, the members of his society should take a further vow of 
•obedience to the Pope; binding themselves to go whithersoever 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


103 


he should command, for the service of religion, and without re¬ 
quiring any thing from the holy see for their support. At a time 
when the Papal authority had received such a shock by the revolt 
of so many nations from the Romish church; at a time when every 
part of the Popish system was attacked with so much violence 
and success, the acquisition of a body of men thus peculiarly de¬ 
voted to the See of Rome, and whom it might set in opposition 
to all its enemies, was an object of the highest consequence. Paul, 
instantly perceiving this, confirmed the institution of the Jesuits 
by his bull, granted the most ample privileges to the members of 
the society, and appointed Loyola to be the first General of the 
order. This event hath fully justified Paul’s discernment, in ex¬ 
pecting such beneficial consequences to the See of Rome from this 
institution. In less than half a century the society obtained 
establishments in every country that adhered to the Roman Ca¬ 
tholic church; its power and wealth increased amazingly; the 
number of its members became great; their character, as well as 
accomplishments, became greater; and the Jesuits were cele¬ 
brated by the friends, and dreaded by the enemies of the Romish 
faith, as the most able and enterprising order in the church.” 

ORDER OF SERVITES. 

A religious order of the church of Rome, founded about the 
year 1233 by seven Florentine merchants, who, with the appro¬ 
bation of the Bishop of Florence, renounced the world, and lived 
together in religious community on Mount Senar, two leagues 
from that city. It is said, that when they first appeared in the 
black habit given them by the Bishop, the very children at the 
breast cried out “ See the Servants of the Virgin! ” and that this 
miracle determined them to take no other name than “ Servites, ” 
or “ Servants of the Virgin.” The order was reformed in 1593, 
and continues to exist in Italy. There are also Nuns of this 
order, who have several monasteries in Germany, Italy, and 
Flanders. 

TIIE CHURCH CATHOLIC. 

The Church—meaning by that term the Catholic or Universal 
Church mentioned in the Creeds—is that society instituted by 
our Blessed Lord, and completed by his Apostles. Its prescrib¬ 
ed form of admission is Baptism; its constant badge of member¬ 
ship is the sacrament of the Eucharist; its officers are bishops 
and priests, assisted by deacons. 

The term Catholic was first applied to the Christian Church to 
distinguish it from the Jewish; the latter being confined to a 
single nation, the former being open to all who should seek ad¬ 
mission into it by Holy Baptism. Hence the Christian Church 
is general or universal. The first regularly organized Christian 


104 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Church was formed at Jerusalem. When Churches were formed 
afterwards at Samaria, Antioch, and other places, these were not 
looked upon as entirely separate bodies, but as branches of the 
one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. St. Paul says (1 Cor. 
xii. 13), By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body; and 
(Eplies. iv. 4), There is one Body and one Spirit. A Catholic Church 
means a branch of this one great society, as the Church of England 
is said to be a Catholic Church ; the Catholic Church includes all 
the Churches in the world under their legitimate bishops. From 
this may be seen the absurdity of calling the Papists Catholics. 
The Romanists or Papists belong to a peculiar society, in which 
errors have been added by a Synod at Trent to the orthodox faith. 
But when we call them Catholics , we as much as call ourselves 
heretics , we as much as admit them to be orthodox. And they 
gladly avail themselves of this admission, on the part of some 
ignorant Protestants, to hold up an argument against the Church 
of England. Pacian being asked why Christians were called Ca¬ 
tholics, answered, it was to distinguish them from heretics, and 
added, “ Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname.” 

PROTESTANTS. 

The following circumstances gave birth to the name Protestants, 
now given to such a large body of Christians. 

In the year 1529, in a diet of the Princes of the Empire, held 
at Spires, it was decreed by the majority,—That in those places 
where the Edict of Worms had been received, it would be lawful 
for no one to change his religion; that in those places where the 
new Lutheran religion was exercised, it should be maintained 
until the meeting of a council, if the ancient, the Popish religion, 
could not be restored without danger of disturbing the public 
peace; but that the mass should not be abolished, nor the Pa¬ 
pists hindered from the free exercise of their religion, nor any one 
of them be allowed to embrace Lutheranism ; that the Sacra- 
mentarians should be banished the empire; that the Anabaptists 
should be punished with death ; and that no preacher should ex¬ 
plain the Gospel in any other sense than what was approved by 
the church. Six Princes of the empire entered their protest against 
this decree. John, Elector of Saxony; George, Margrave of 
Brandenburgh; Ernest and Francis, Lukes of Lunenburgh and 
Brunswick; Philip, Landgrave of Hesse; and Wolfaug, Prince of 
Anhalt. 

From this protest the followers of Luther first obtained the name 
of Protestants, wdiich was afterwards used as a general term to 
denote all who protest against Popery. The word does not occur 
in the liturgical formularies of the English Church, and is now 
popularly used as a term of negation. Protestant is the negative, 
Catholic the definite name of all orthodox Christians. 














THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


105 


LOLLARD. 

The term Lollard is derived from a Waldensian pastor, Walter 
Lollard, who was burnt alive for these doctrines at Cologne in 
1322. At the close ot the fourteenth century it was given to 
the followers of WicklifFe. 

MAHOMETAN. 

The Mahometan religion derives its name from Mahomet of 
Mecca, who originally was nothing more than a private soldier. 
He had many enemies even in liis native place, from whence he 
fled in 622 to Arabia. His followers compute their time from 
this era, which in Arabic is called Hegira , i. e., the Flight. The 
Koran, commonly called the book of Allah, is a collection of all 
those various fragments which the prophet, during the time of 
his apostolic office, successively promulgated as so many revela¬ 
tions from heaven. 


METHODISM. 

A writer'* does Mr. Whitfield the honour of being the first 
author of Methodism, whom he also calls a fellow of Pembroke 
College, in Oxford. Mr. Whitfield, however, was not concerned 
in the first institution of Methodism, though he has since made 
so shining a figure amongst them; for some years before he came 
to the University, Mr. John Wesley, fellow of Lincoln College, 
his brother Charles, a student of Christ Church, Mr. Clayton of 
Brazen Nose, and two or three more young gentlemen, with very 
laudable intention, agreed to spend two or three evenings together 
in a week, in reading history or other entertaining books, instead 
of drinking, which at that time was too much in vogue among 
the young people of the University. The Sunday evenings they 
appropriated to religious authors, which soon convinced them of 
the great neglect of practical religion in that place, as well as in 
other parts of the kingdom. In consequence of these convictions, 
they formed themselves into a society, and raised a small fund for 
charitable uses; to relieve the necessitous, buy medicines for the 
sick, and to disperse books amongst the ignoraut. They agreed 
also to go occasionally and visit the prisoners in the Castle, who 
at that time were much neglected; and that they might have 
the more leisure for these charitable offices, without breaking in 
too much upon the business of their Colleges, they were obliged 
to fix stated hours for these employments, and their other reli¬ 
gious exercises, to which they were directed by Mr. Nelson’s 
Practice of Devotion. This strict regularity and methodical con¬ 
duct, after some time acquired them the name of Methodists; 
though not without allusion probably to an ancient school of 
physicians of that denomination. 

* Historical Review of the Transactions of Europe. 


106 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


MORAVIANS. 

The founder of this religious society was Nicholas Lewes, 
Count Zinzendorf, a native of Saxony, who died at Chelsea 
in 1760. The Society was first instituted in Moravia, from 
whence they derived their appellation. Their principal establish¬ 
ment in England is in the neighbourhood of Bradford, in York¬ 
shire. 

QUAKERS. 

The sect denominated Quakers first appeared in the year 1650, 
in the reign of Charles II.; they were founded by one Fox, who, 
in 1665, after a series of persecutions, was confined in Scarborough 
Castle. The year preceding, sixty Quakers were put on board 
the ship Black Eagle, and exported to America. * Such was the 
persecution this sect met wutli in the reign of their “ good friend 
Charles,” as they denominated him, as will be seen from the fol¬ 
lowing remarkable address which they presented to James II., 
on his accession to the throne:—“We are come to testify our 
sorrow for the death of our good friend Charles, and our joy at 
thy being made our Governor. We are told thou art not of the 
Church of England any more than we; and therefore we hope, 
thou will grant unto us the same liberty which thou allowest 
thyself.” 

The derivation of the term Quaker is somewhat obscure; but 
as the Ranters are thus denominated from their ranting, or 
boisterous worship, so it may be fairly concluded that Quakers 
received that appellation from the meekness of theirs; being, 
during their worship, or supposed to be, in a state of fear and 
trembling, or in other words, quaking for their offences. 

BIBLE AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 

The principal Societies which have for their exclusive object 
the dispersiou of the Scriptures, and the propagation of the 
Christian religion are the following:— 

Founded. 


Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, ----- 1608 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701 
Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, - 1709 

Moravian Missions, 173 ^ 

Naval and Military Bible Society, - 1780 

Wesleyan Missionary Society, - 1786 

Baptist Missionary Society, - 1792 

London Missionary Society, - 1795 

Church Missionary Society, - 1799 

British and Foreign Bible Society, - 1804 

Prayer Book and Homily Society, - 1812 


* See Pennsylvania. 


















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


107 


NICENE CREED. 

Manifold were the disputes of the Fathers of the Church, in 
its earlier days, as to what portion of the Scriptures were , and 
what were not, the word of God. Contention at last ran so high, 
that their flocks began to think for themselves, and to hold simi¬ 
lar disputations. The holy fathers, however, foreseeing that 
shepherds would be nothing without flocks, agreed to end their 
differences, by setting the matter at rest for ever. This Creed 
was commenced by the Council of Nice, a.d. 325, and completed 
by the second General Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381, where 
the heads of the Church had been summoned to meet in Council, 
in order to settle the knotty question. The result of their labours 
was, the celebrated Creed, called the Nicene Creed, from the 
place where the holy disputants had met. 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, was the originator of Sunday 
Schools, and spent his life in acts of kindness and compassion ; 
promoting education as a source of happiness to his fellow-beings, 
and bestowing his exertions and bounty to benefit the helpless. 
He died 5th April, 1811. 

CHARITY SCHOOLS. 

Charity Schools were first projected towards the close of the 
seventeenth century. In 1685, there was one founded at High- 
gate ; and another in Zoar Street, Southwark, in 1687. The 
oldest school which appears on the list of the Christian Knowledge 
Society’s Reports, is St. Ann’s, Westminster, established in 1688; 
and that known by the name of St. Margaret’s Blue-Coat School, 
was opened on Lady-day of the same year for fifty boys. The 
first annual collected assemblage of Charity Schools was in 1704, 
when 2000 children met together in St. Sepulchre’s Church, 
Snow-hill. Afterwards the anniversary took place in St. Bride’s, 
St. Sepulchre’s, and Christ Church, Newgate Street. On the 2nd 
May, 1782, the schools were for the first time assembled in St. 
Paul’s Cathedral, where an amphitheatre was erected under the 
dome. Hr. Porteus, bishop of London, preached the sermon. 
Every year since it has continued to excite a more lively interest 
to behold it; and surely here is something to gratify the heart 
that can feel, and something for foreigners to gaze at with 
admiration. 

BELL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 

This national system of education originated with the Rev. 
Hr. Bell of Madras, from whom it derives its appellation. 


108 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


LANCASTEEIAN SYSTEM. 

So called from Joseph Lancaster, one of the Society of Friends. 
This system differs very little, if any, from the Bell system. The 
advocates of the latter (Bell) tax the former with piracy; and the 
former retaliate by saying, that the system, although originating 
in a measure with Dr. Bell, would have lain dormant if it had 
not been for Joseph Lancaster. 

SPENCEAN SYSTEM. 

The Spencean System, so called from one Thomas Spence, a 
political enthusiast, who devised and published a plan by which 
the human kind could be provided with sustenance without 
pauperism. Ide died October, 1814. 

EDICT OF NANTZ. 

To reconcile the Protestants to the abjuration of their religion, 
Henry IV. of France, after his reduction of the league, issued 
an Edict from Nantz in 1598, tolerating the Protestant religion 
throughout his kingdom. This was revoked by Louis XIV., 
in 1685; by this bad policy, 50,000 French Protestants left France 
and came to England, and there can be little doubt that their 
representations of the cruelties perpetrated by the king of France, 
tended to excite the suspicions of the English against their own 
Homan Catholic Sovereign, and in some degree accelerated the 
advent of the Revolution of 1688. 

BISHOP’S CROSIER. 

Voltaire, in his Philosophical Dictionary, says, “ As for augu¬ 
ries, they perished with the Roman empire. Only the Bishops 
have retained the original staff, called the Crosier, which was the 
distinctive mark of the dignity of augur, so that the symbol of 
falsehood has become the symbol of truth.” 

Let not institutions vaunt of the sacredness of their insignia, 
for time and custom alternately defile and hallow all things— 
that which was emblematical of conclusive foresight from the 
aspect of the entrails of a brute, is now the rod and guiding staff 
to immortality .—Temyora omnia mutant. 

CHANGING OF THE POPE’S NAME. 

The custom of altering the names of the Popes after their elec¬ 
tion to the Popedom, was first introduced in the case of some 
Cardinal being elected whose proper name meant swine-snout ,* 
which, by general consent, being deemed unseemly for such a 
dignity, was changed to Servius the Second. 

* See Roman Names. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


109 


CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN. 

The early history of the British Church is obscure; and 
although we learn from Tertullian and Origen, that Christianity 
had extended thither by the third century, it is not easy to fix 
the period at which regular churches were formed. It is certain, 
however, that the British Church in the fourth century was 
ruled by bishops, who regularly attended their sessions, and sub¬ 
scribed their decrees and canons. Three names, Eborus of York, 
Restitutus of London, and Adelphiusof Caerleon-upon-Usk, with 
the names of a priest and a deacon, are found appended to the 
Council of Arles, celebrated in the year 314. So also they were 
present at Nice in 325, at Sardica in 347, and at Remini in 359. 
These facts alone are, in themselves, sufficient proofs to establish 
the validity of the Ancient Church of Britain—the episcopal form 
of her government—and her entire constitution as a branch of 
the Church of Christ, at a period of nearly 250 years before the 
arrival of Augustine, the missionary of Gregory the Great, a.d. 
596. 


INQUISITION. 

The Inquisition, or Holy Office, as it is impiously termed, may 
be traced to Pope Lucius, who at the Council of Verona, in 1184, 
ordered the bishops to procure information of all who were sus¬ 
pected of heresy, and if they could not effect this in person, they 
were to enjoin it as a duty on their commissioners. In the 
beginning of the 13th century this order was reinforced, and 
the poor Albigenses and Waldenses severely felt its fury. Do¬ 
minic, usually called St. Dominic, reduced this to practice, and 
was, if not the first Inquisitor, yet the founder of that order to 
which the management of the Inquisition was committed. In 
1251, the Inquisition was established in Italy; in 1255, it was 
extended to France. The horrors accompanying the practices of 
this office, soon excited universal disgust in the best disposed 
Romanists. It was established in Spain about the middle of the 
13th century. In 1484, the Supreme General Inquisition -was 
founded at Seville by Queen Isabella, with the aid of Cardinal 
Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. In Portugal, it was received about 
1536. The gradual progress of knowledge checked the bloodshed 
of this tribunal; and it rarely, of late years, terrified the world 
by displaying ranks of heretics led to the stake. The triumph 
of humanity in the entire abolition of this most cruel depositary 
of power, terrestrial and spiritual, was a prominent good arising 
from the evils of the French revolution, but it was for the Spanish 
Cortes to give the death-blow. 

For farther information on the subject of the Inquisition, the 
reader may refer to Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella; Quart. 
Rev., vol. iv.; Llorentes’ History of the Inquisition. 


no 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 




PARLIAMENTS, MAGNA CHARTA, TRIAL BY JURY, PEUDAL LAWS, 
PUBLIC COURTS OE TIIE KINGDOM, ORIGIN OF 
TITHES, PUBLIC PLOTS, &c. 


PARLIAMENT. 

Tlie etymology of the word Parliament is properly a French 
or Norman word, signifying to speak the mind, and was origi¬ 
nally spelt parle a merit. Parium la mentum, id est, a meeting of 
the Peers to lament and complain to each other of the enormities 
of the country, and thereon to provide for the same, is a definition 
frequently to be met with in the old writers; and, according to 
Lord Coke, it is called Parliament from parler la merit, every 
member speaking his mind for the general good of the common¬ 
wealth. Barrington derives it from a compound of two Celtic 
words, parly and merit , or mend. The ancient Parlemens of 
France, were unlike the Parliaments of England. In France, the 
Parlemens were courts of justice. All their edicts were ground¬ 
ed on the ordinances of the king. When there was any opposi¬ 
tion to those ordinances, the king went in person, and held 
what is called a Lit de justice. He declared before them, that 
the ordinance before them was his actual will, and ordered the 
proper officer to register it. There was no mode of objecting to 
the will of the king after a Lit de justice. 

It was common with the kings of France to seize upon the 
lands of their nobles, and make an ordinance of sequestration, 
against which there was no remedy. The lands were annexed 
to the crown. 

Had the nobles of France defended their rights as the Barons 
of England did, France would not have remained so long a 
nation of slaves. The first Parliament in England was in 1116. 


HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

Although the first Parliament was in 1116, yet the House of 
Commons, as now constituted, takes its date from the reign of 
Henry III., May 14th, 1264. Earl Montfort, after defeating the 
king’s troops, called a Parliament at Winchester in the king’s 
name, which is shown by Dr. Brady to be the first wherein two 
knights for each county and two burgesses for each borough were 
summoned, and was the original of the House of Commons. 

Members obliged to reside in the places they represented, 
1413; Francis Bussell, son of the Earl of Bedford, was the first 
peer’s eldest son who sat in the House of Commons, 1549; that 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Ill 


remarkable for the epoch in which were first formed the parties 
of court and country, June 16th, 1620; a peer elected, and sat as 
a member of the House of Commons, 1649; the House of Com¬ 
mons committed a Secretary of State to the Tower, November 
18th, 1678; their Speaker refused by the king, 1679; bill passed 
for triennial parliaments, November, 1694; the first British one 
met, October 24th, 1707; triennial act repealed, May 1st, 1716; 
act passed for septennial ones, 1716; their privilege of protection 
from arrest for debts relinquished, 1770; the lord mayor and an 
alderman of London committed to the Tower by the House 
of Commons, 1771 ; Sir Francis Burdett committed to the 
Tower by the House of Commons, on the motion of Sir Thomas 
Lethbridge, April 9th, 1810. The Reform bill passed in the 
session of 1832. 

The first mention of a Speaker of the House of Commons 
occurs in the Parliament 51 Edward III. His duties are to act 
entirely as the servant of the House which appoints him. He 
takes the Chair, which he cannot do unless forty members are 
present; maintains order; explains and informs on questions of 
order or practice if he is referred to. He can neither speak nor 
vote unless in the case of equality of votes, or in Committees of 
the whole House, where, as soon as the chair is taken, he is 
reduced to the footing of an ordinary Member. 

THE KING’S SPEECH. 

The first king’s speech, as it is termed, was delivered by 
Henry I., in the year 1107. 

MAGNA CHARTA. 

The “Great Charter” was signed by John on the 15th of 
June, 1215, and confirmed by his successor, Henry III. It is 
reported to have been chiefly drawn up by the Earl of Pembroke 
and Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. The ground 
where John, accompanied by the pope’s legate and other prelates 
and followers, met the barons, was between Staines and Windsor, 
at a place called Runnymede ; but better known in modern times 
as Egham race-course, and which is still held in reverence as the 
spot where the standard of freedom was first erected in England. 

There, it is said, the barons appeared with a vast number of 
knights and warriors, and both sides encamped apart, like open 
enemies. The barons, in carrying their arms, would admit but 
of few abatements; and the king’s commissioners, as history 
relates, being for the most part in their interests,. few debates 
ensued. The charter required of him was there signed by the 
king and his barons, which continues in force to this day, and is 
the famous bulwark of English liberty, which now goes by the 
name of Magna Charta. 


112 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


It is related that this very document was lost for near two 
centuries, and was discovered at last by the celebrated Sir Robert 
Cotton, who, on calling upon his tailor one day, discovered him 
in the act of cutting up an old parchment deed, with a great 
number of seals attached thereto. His curiosity was awakened, 
and he examined it minutely, when he discovered that it was the 
Great Charter, or Magna Charta of England! He took posses¬ 
sion of it, and, had it not been for this timely rescue, the palla¬ 
dium of England’s liberties would have been appropriated to the 
unholy office of measuring his majesty’s lieges for coats and 
breeches. It is now deposited in the Cottonian Library, in the 
British Museum.* 

It is a curious circumstance, also, that out of twenty-six barons 
who signed Magna Charta, only three could write their names; 
the remainder merely signing, or having signed their marks 

TRIAL BY JURY. 

Some authors have endeavoured to trace the origin of juries 
up as high as the Britons themselves, the first inhabitants of our 
islands; but certain it is they were in use among the earlier 
Saxon colonies, this institution being ascribed by Bishop Nicol- 
son to Woden himself, their great legislator and captain. 

When the Normans came in, William, though commonly called 
the Conqueror, was so far from abrogating this privilege of 
juries, that, in the fourth year of his reign, he confirmed all king 
Edward the Confessor’s laws, and the ancient customs of the 
kingdom, whereof this was an essential and most material part. 

Afterwards, when the Great Charter, commonly called Magna 
Charta, which is nothing else than a recital, confirmation, and 
corroboration of our ancient English liberties, was made and put 
under the Great Seal of England, in the 9th year of king Henry 
III., a.d. 1225, then was this privilege of trials by juries in an 
especial manner confirmed and established, as in the 14th chap¬ 
ter : that no amercement shall be assessed, but by the oath of 
good and honest men of the vicinage. And more fully in the 
twenty-ninth chapter : no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, 
or be disseized of his freehold, or liberties, or free customs, or be 
outlawed, or exiled, or any other way destroyed, nor shall we 
pass upon him, or condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his 
Peers. 

This Grand Charter, having been confirmed by above thirty 
Acts of Parliament, the said rights of juries thereby, and by con¬ 
stant usage and common custom of England, which is the com¬ 
mon law, are brought down to us as our undoubted birthright, 
and are, in fact, the best inheritance of every Englishman. 

In Stourhead Grounds, belonging to Sir Richard Hoare, Bart., 

, * See Cottonian Library. 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


113 


is a tower erected in memory of Alfred tlie Great. Over the 
entrance is the following inscription :— 

Alfred the Great, 

A. D. 870, on this Summit 
Erected his Standard 
Against Danish Invaders. 

To him we owe the Origin of Juries, 

The Establishment of a Militia, 

The Creation of a Naval Force. 

Alfred, the light of a benighted age. 

Was a Philosopher and a Christian, 

The Father of his People, 

The founder of the English 
Monarchy and Liberty. 


CONFINING JURORS FROM MEAT AND DRINK. 

An Italian author, in his Antiquities, plainly affirms, that this 
regulation was framed for the purpose of avoiding the unsound 
decrees consequent upon intoxication ; and Dr. Gilbert Stuart 
very patiently and ingeniously affirms, in his Historical Disserta¬ 
tion concerning the Antiquity of the British Constitution , p. 238, 
that from the propensity of the older Britons to indulge ex¬ 
cessively in eating and drinking, has proceeded the restriction 
upon jurors and jurymen, to refrain from meat and drink, and to 
be even held in custody, until they had agreed upon their verdict. 

EXEMPTION OF SURGEONS AND BUTCHERS FROM SERVING ON JURIES. 

The reason commonly assigned for the privilege of surgeons, 
in being exempt from serving on juries is, that they are too con¬ 
stantly in the habit of suppressing the human feelings. But this 
is not the real cause of the privilege, as appears from the following 
extract from Andrews’ History of England: ” In the same year 
1513), the Corporation of Surgeons, consisting of twelve, a 
number being then thought equal to the care Oi the meti opolis, 
petitioned parliament to be exempted from bearing. ai ms, oi 
serving on juries and parish offices; and their petition was 
successful.” 

This however, is not the case with the Knights of the Cleaver, 
commonly yclept butchers. In AT Queen’s Historical . Records , 
we find the following notice on the subject. During this session 
(1661) Mr. Hyde brought in a bill to prohibit butchers from 
servino- on juries in cases of life and death, which unanimously 
passed^botli houses of parliament, and received the.royal assent. 
It is very strange, continues the historian, that so judicious and 
humane an enactment had not been passed before; not that they 
(butchers) should be considered as devoid of the common feelings 
of humanity, but more liable to its infirmities, from their avoca- 




114 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


tions necessarily compelling them to the performance of a duty, 
incompatible with those feelings which they hitherto had been 
called upon to exercise in the capacity of jurymen. 

BENEFIT OF CLERGY. 

As the true meaning of the term may perhaps not be gen¬ 
erally known, the following definition is given : felony, which 
comprehends almost numberless species of crimes, is subdivided 
into two classes—with, or without benefit of clergy. 

The benefit of clergy, at present, signifies an exemption from 
capital punishment in all felonies where the legislature has not 
taken away that benefit by express words. The origin of this 
principle, which is very little understood, is as follows : At 
the time the Eomisli faith was prevalent in this country, the 
clergy claimed an exemption from punishment for all secular 
offences, and the legislature was so far duped by them as to 
grant them that privilege ; therefore, whenever a priest was 
convicted of a crime, for which another man would suffer death, 
he was discharged without punishment, on proving himself to be 
an ecclesiastic. The clergy did not fail to avail themselves of this 
advantage, and committed all sorts of enormity with impunity. 

This induced the parliaments at various times to subject them 
to capital punishments for particular offences, by taking away 
from those offences the benefit of clergy. In those dark super¬ 
stitious times, every person who could read, was presumed in 
law to be a priest in orders ; and till the reign of Anne, a man 
who was not possessed of this qualification, was liable to be 
hanged for an offence, which one possessed of it would only be 
burnt in the hand for ; but since that time, laymen are allowed 
the benefit of clergy, once. The clergy, however, are entitled to 
claim it as often as they have occasion, and are exempted from 
the punishment of burning in the hand by the statute of 1 Edward 
VI., which extends the same privilege to Peers of the Realm, 
whom it also exempts from capital punishment for the crimes 
of housebreaking, highway robbery, horse-stealing, and robbing 
of churches. Felony without benefit of clergy, are capital offences, 
of which Sir William Blackstone, in his time, enumerates 160. 
By the recent statutes for the improvement of the criminal code, 
commonly called Peel’s Acts (7 and 8 George IV. c. 28), it is 
enacted, “ that benefit of clergy with respect to persons convicted 
of felony shall be abolished.” 

BOROUGHS. 

As we are constantly hearing the word Boroughmonger made 
use of, the original signification of the term borough is here 
introduced. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


115 


. Borough originally meant a company, consisting of ten families, 
which were bound together as each other’s pledge. Afterwards 
borough came to signify a town, having a wall or some kind of 
enclosure round. And all places that in old time had the name 
of borough, it is said, were fortified or fenced, in some shape or 
other. Borough is a place of safety, or privilege ; and some are 
called free boroughs, and the tradesmen in them free burgesses, 
from a freedom they had granted to them originally, to buy and 
sell without disturbance, and exempt from toll. In July, 1833, 
a royal commission was issued to inquire as to the existing state 
of the municipal corporations in England and Wales, and to col¬ 
lect information respecting their defects. Their Report was laid 
before the House of Commons, and ordered to be printed in 
March, 1835. Upon this Report was founded the Bill, “for 
the regulation of municipal corporations in England and Wales.” 
The total number of the cities, towns, and ports, reconstituted, 
under the general name of “ Boroughs ” by the Municipal Reform 
Act, is 178. / 

CORPORATIONS. 

It is difficult to account for the origin of charter and corpora¬ 
tion towns, unless we suppose them to have arisen out of, or been 
connected with, some species of garrison service. The times in 
which they began justify this idea. The generality of those 
towns have been garrisons ; and the corporations were charged 
with the gates of the towns, when no military garrison was pre¬ 
sent. Their refusing or granting admission to strangers, which 
has produced the custom of giving, selling, and buying freedom, 
has more of the nature of garrison authority than civil govern¬ 
ment. 

Soldiers are free of all corporations throughout the nation, by 
the same propriety that every soldier is free of every garrison, 
and no other persons are. He can follow any employment, with 
the permission of his officers, in any corporation town through¬ 
out the nation. 

FEUDAL LAWS. 

The feudal (from feodum) laws, or the tenure of land by suit 
and service to the owner of it, was introduced into England by 
the Saxons, about 600. The slavery of this tenure increased un¬ 
der William I., 1068. This was dividing the kingdom into 
baronies, giving them to certain persons, and requiring those 
persons to furnish the king with money, and a stated number of 
soldiers. 

FOREST AND GAME LAWS. 

The ancient kings of Media were the first preservers of game. 
Their extensive paradises, or royal parks, contained numerous 


116 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


species of animals ; lions, bears, camelopards, deer, antelopes, 
wild sheep, and wild asses. But as all those creatures in confine¬ 
ment underwent a kind of civilisation, and lost the wild propen¬ 
sities which distinguished them in their natural state, the more 
adventurous portion of Median youth always sallied forth to the 
mountains and forests, when they were desirous of exhibiting 
their courage or prowess. By the common law introduced into 
this country by the Normans, all game was the property of the 
king ; no person whatsoever could enjoy the diversion of sporting, 
unless authorized by royal grant of a chase or free warren ; and to 
kill a deer was deemed almost as heinous an act as to kill a man. 

It is generally allowed by all who have made remarks, that 
the game laws, as they subsisted for ages, were a disgrace to 
the noble fabric of our free constitution ; and it is not the more 
remarkable, since they had their origin in slavery, as the following 
passage from Blackstone sufficiently demonstrates :— 

“ Another violent alteration of the English constitution, consist¬ 
ed in the depopulation of whole counties for the purposes of the 
king’s royal diversion, and subjecting both them, and all the 
ancient forests of the kingdom, to the unreasonable severity of 
forest laws, imported from the continent; whereby the slaughter 
of a beast was made almost as penal as the death of a man. In 
the Saxon times, though no man was allowed to kill or chase the 
king’s deer, yet he might start any game, pursue, and kill it, upon 
his own estate. But the rigour of these new constitutions vested 
the property of all the game in England in the king alone ; and 
no man was allowed to disturb any fowl of the air, or any beast 
of the field, of such kinds as were especially reserved for the royal 
amusement of the sovereign, without express licence from the 
king, by the grant of a chase or free warren ; and those franchises 
were granted as much with a view to preserve the breed of ani¬ 
mals, as to indulge the subject. From a similar principle to 
which, though the forest laws are now mitigated, and grown by 
degrees entirely obsolete; yet from this root has sprung a bas¬ 
tard slip, known by the name of the Game Laws, now arrived to, 
and wantoning in, its highest vigour; both founded upon the 
same unreasonable notions of permanent property in wild crea¬ 
tures ; and both productive of the same tyranny to the commons ; 
but with this difference, that the forest laws established only one 
mighty hunter throughout the land, the game laws have raised a 
little Nimrod in every manor; and in one respect, the ancient 
law was much less unreasonable than the modern ; for the king’s 
grantee of a chase or free warren, might kill game in any partof 
his franchise ; but now, though a freeholder of less than one 
hundred a year is forbidden to kill a partridge on his own estate, 
yet nobody else (not even the lord of the manor), unless he hath 
a grant of free warren, can do it without committing a trespass, 
and subjecting himself to an action.” 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


117 


By a statute passed in 1831 (1 & 2 Will. IV. c. 32), tlie old 
system was materially improved. The whole of the former pro¬ 
visions respecting qualification by estate or birth were removed, 
and any person obtaining a certificate is now enabled to kill game, 
either upon his own land, or on the land of any other person with 
his permission. 

THE + AS A MARK. 

It is said that Withred, king of Kent, used the sign of the 
Cross for his mark to his grants, he being unable to write his 
name ; and that from him originated the custom. It is said also, 
that the majority of the barons who signed Magna Charta made 
their marks, being ignorant of the science of writing.* 

The sign of the Cross was first used by Christians as a distinc¬ 
tion, in 110 ; that of our Saviour, found on Mount Calvary, 326. 

STAMP DUTY ON RECEIPTS. 

The Stamp Duty on Receipts was first imposed during the 
celebrated Coalition Administration, in 1783, which gave occa¬ 
sion for the following jeu-d'esprit, at the time generally attributed 
to Sheridan : 

“ I would,” says Fox, “a tax devise, 

That should not fall on me;” 

“ Then tax receipts,” Lord North replies, 

“ For those you never see /” 

MAIL COACHES. 

Mail Coaches were first established to Bristol, in 1784 ; to 
other parts of England, and an Act to regulate and encourage 
them, and exempt them from tolls, in 1785. 

POST OFFICES. 

Post Offices were first established in Paris, 1479 ; in England, 
1581 ; in Germany, 1641 ; in the Turkish dominions, 1740 ; regu¬ 
lated by parliament, and made general in England, 1656, and in 
Scotland, 1685. 

PENNY POST. 

The Penny-Post was set up in London and suburbs, by on© 
Murray, an upholsterer, in 1681, who afterwards assigned the 
same to one Dockwra ; afterwards claimed by the government, 
who allowed the latter a pension of <£200 a year, in 1711. First 
set up in Dublin, 1774. It was improved considerably in and 
about London, July, 1794. Mr. Rowland Hill’s plan of a uniform 
inland rate of postage of one penny per half ounce, came into 
operation 10th January, 1840. 

* See Magna Charta. 




118 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


RYE-HOUSE PLOT. 

The Rye-House is a farm near Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, 
through which Charles II. usually passed in his road from New¬ 
market, which farm belonged to Rumbold, one of the conspirators. 
It was proposed by them to attack the king and his guards by 
firing from the out-houses, while another party should attack 
them when they were separated by the gates, and embarrassed 
in the inclosures ; but a fire happening at Newmarket, his majesty 
returned to London sooner than he intended, and before the con¬ 
spirators were prepared to put their design in execution. This 
occurred, June 14th, 1683. The conspiracy was discovered by a 
letter from one John Keeling, in a letter to Lord Dartmouth 
and secretary Jenkins. 

WALLER’S PLOT. 

The nobility and people of distinction in London, as well as 
the most substantial citizens, being weary of the parliamentary 
war, associated together, and came to a resolution to endeavour 
to depose the chiefs of the opposition, to offer his majesty equitable 
terms of peace, and if this was refused, to form a party strong 
enough in the city to oppose the levying taxes on them for the 
continuance of the war ; which Pym having some intelligence of, 
pretended there was a plot to destroy the parliament, and deliver 
up the city of London to the king ; and Mr. Waller being one of 
the most considerable men, or most active in promoting the said 
object, it obtained the name of Waller’s Plot. 

POPISH PLOT. 

In the reign of Charles II., in the year 1678, Doctor Tongue, a 
physician, laid certain papers before the lord treasurer, Dauby, 
importing a conspiracy against his majesty’s life, and the Pro¬ 
testant religion, by the Jesuits. The chief promoters of this plot 
were said to be the pope, Innocent XI., Cardinal Howard, and 
numerous others in England, of the Roman Catholic religion. 
The said Tongue, and one Titus Oates, having drawn up a narra¬ 
tive, made oath of the truth of the same. From the circumstance 
of the origin, it obtained the name of the Popish Plot. 

GUNPOWDER PLOT. 

The famous Plot, which was intended to have blown up the 
king,* lords, and commons, with gunpowder, was discovered on 
the Fifth of November, the day on which it was to have taken 
place, 1605 ; when one of the conspirators, wishing to save 
William Parker, Lord Monteagle, wrote him a letter of caution. 

* James the First. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


119 


Upon which, his lordship communicated the same to the privy 
council; and the vaults of the parliament being searched, several 
barrels of gunpowder were found, also one Guido Faux, a Spaniard, 
with a lanthorn, was found secreted therein. Hence originated 
the term of “ Gunpowder Plot,” yearly celebrated on the Fifth of 
November. 


MEAL-TUB PLOT. 

This was also a plot of the Romanists, in the reign of Charles 
II., to discredit the witnesses of the Popish Plot, wherein the 
famous Titus Oates figured as an informer. The heads whereof 
being found in a paper concealed in a tub of meal, it obtained the 
name of the Meal-Tub Plot. 

HOLY ALLIANCE. 

The Holy Alliance was a league formed between certain of the 
principal sovereigns of Europe, after the defeat of Napoleon at 
Waterloo, on the proposal it is said of the Emperor Alexander, 
for the purpose of checking the revolutionary mania, as it was 
stated, and preserving the legitimate rights of the potentates who 
formed it. 

This alliance has ever been looked upon with a well-founded 
suspicion by the English nation ; indeed by all who feel interested 
in the march of mind, and rational freedom. 

THE CABAL COUNCIL. 

The celebrated cabinet council of Charles II., which we read of 
in history, and who were supposed to be in the pay of Louis XIV., 
derived their appellation from the initial letters of their five 
names, which composed the word Cabal; viz.— 

Clifford, 

Arlington, 

Buckingham, 

Ashley, 

Lauderdale. 

As this has not been sufficiently explained, or rather, as the 
derivation has not been given in the majority of the Histories of 
Eno-land, it is considered that it will not be found out of place here. 


WOOLSACKS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 

In the reign of queen Elizabeth, an act of parliament was 
passed, to prevent the exportation of English wool; and the more 
effectually to secure this source of national wealth, the woolsacks 
on which our judges sit, in the House of Lords, were placed there 
to remind them that, in their judicial capacity, they ought to have 


120 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


a constant eye to the preservation of this staple commodity of 
the kingdom. 

SLAVE TRADE. 

The first attempt, from England, to establish the odious traffic 
in blacks, was in the reign of queen Elizabeth, in the year 1562 ; 
when John Hawkins, an adventurer, afterwards Sir John Haw¬ 
kins, fitted out three ships, and made a voyage to the Coast of 
Guinea for slaves. It was not until the latter end of the eight¬ 
eenth century, that the atrocities of this trade began to engage 
the attention of parliament. In 1788, an act was passed to regu¬ 
late it, and after twenty years’ animated discussion, it w T as at last 
totally abolished in 1807. In 1834, an Act was passed abolishing 
slavery in fourteen British colonies, and twenty millions sterling 
voted as compensation to the owners. 

EXCISE DUTY. 

It was in the year 1733, that the Excise Duty was first moved 
in the House of Commons, by resolutions, which were powerfully 
resisted, but finally carried, and the Excise Bill brought in ; the 
majority being 236, the minority 200. Prior to this period the 
excise was farmed. 

SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 

In 1711, the ninth year of queen Anne’s reign, a charter of in¬ 
corporation was granted to a company trading to the South Seas ; 
and the South Sea Company’s affairs appeared so prosperous, that 
in 1718, George I., being chosen governor, and a bill enabling 
him to accept the office having passed both the Houses on the 
3rd of February, his majesty in person attended in the House of 
Lords, and gave the royal assent to the act. The result is but 
too well known; such a scene of misery appeared among traders, 
that it was almost unfashionable not to be a bankrupt; and the 
dire catastrophe was attended with such a number of self-mur¬ 
ders, as no age can parallel. Among the various bubbles winch 
were started about this time may be mentioned one “ For making 
iron with pit coal,” and another “ For carrying on an undertak¬ 
ing of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.” Mait¬ 
land, in his History of London, informs us that one of the projects 
which received great encouragement, was for the establishment 
of a company “ to make deal boards out of sawdust.” For full 
particulars about the South Sea and other bubbles of the period, 
see Mackay’s Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions , vol. i. 

STANDING ARMY IN ENGLAND. 

This unconstitutional force, as some of our would-be patriots 
have designated it, takes its date from 1486, when Henry VII. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


121 


established fifty yeomen of the guard, and which, in time, became 
a precedent for a more extensive and effective force.* 

LAND TAX IN ENGLAND. 

The first land tax was in the reign of Ethelred II., with whom 
the Danes had broken an agreement. The invaders committed 
horrid cruelties and devastations all over the kingdom, and the 
timid Ethelred paid them no less than .£24,000 for peace. This 
was levied on land, and was called danegelt , by which ignominious 
name the tax called Land Tax was first known in England. The 
modern land tax was first established at the revolution, in 1688, 
from which period to the year 1800, it yielded above £227,000,000. 

PROPERTY TAX. 

The first tax on personal property in England was levied by 
Henry II. (whose reign began, 1154), which amounted to twopence 
in the pound on the amount of every individual’s net effects, after 
deducting the debts owing, to be verified on oath ; and one 'penny 
in the pound for the four following years. This tax was after¬ 
wards raised to one tenth part of all personal property, as, in 1188, 
intelligence had been received that Jerusalem had been taken 
by the sultan of Egypt. On this occasion, the English are said 
to have paid above £70,000, and the resident Jews about £60,000, 
together about £2,000,000 sterling of modeim money. 

In the reign of Henry III., the revenue of customs was £6,000 
per annum. 

POSTS. 

The first institution of posts is generally ascribed to the Persians. 
The monarchs of that extensive empire, that they might have 
intelligence of all that passed in the provinces of their vast do¬ 
minions, placed sentinels on eminences, at convenient distances, 
where towers were built, which sentinels gave notice of public 
occurrences to each other with a loud and shrill voice; by which 
means alone, news was transported from one end of the kingdom 
to the other with surprising expedition. This method, however, 
being found to be tedious and uncertain, Cyrus, as Xenophon 
informs us, provided couriers, and erected houses on all the high¬ 
roads, for keeping post-horses, and delivering packets from one 
to another. 

PRESSING FOR THE NAVY. 

This mode of recruiting our navy commenced in the year 1355 ; 
prior to which seamen were enlisted in the same manner as 
soldiers, but which, in time of war, was found ineffectual. 

* See Beef-eater. 



122 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


OLD AND NEW STYLE. 

Pope Gregory XIII. caused the Calendar to be reformed in the 
year 1582 ; whereby the English, and some other Protestant coun¬ 
tries, which adhere to the Julian Calendar, lost ten days, and 
occasioned the distinction of Old and New Style. The differ¬ 
ence between the Old and New Style up to the year 1699, was 
only ten days; after 1700, it was eleven days; and after 1800, 
twelve days: So that the 1st January, 1800, of the Old , corre¬ 
sponded with the 13th of January, 1800, of the New Style. In 
the year 1751, an Act was passed (24 Ceo. II.) for regulating the 
commencement of the year, which formerly began on 25th March, 
and which enacted, that 1st day of January next following shall 
be reckoned as the first day of the year 1753, and so in all future 
years. The Ecclesiastical year is now considered to commence on 
the first Sunday in Advent. 

CHILTERN HUNDREDS. 

Of the hundreds into which many of the English counties were 
divided by king Alfred, for their better government, the jurisdic¬ 
tion was originally vested in particular courts, but came afterwards 
to be devolved to the county courts, and so remains at present 
except with regard to some, as the Chiltern Hundreds , in Bucking- 
hamshire, which have been, by privilege annexed to the crown. 
These having still their own courts, a steward of those courts is 
appointed by the chancellor of the exchequer, with a salary of 
twenty shillings, and all fees, &c., belonging to the office. This is 
made a matter of convenience to members of parliament; when 
them wish to resign, he accepts the nominal office of the 
Chiltern Hundreds, and by this vacates his seat. 


ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN COURTS OF LAW, AND LEGISLATIVE 

PROCEEDINGS. 

The Fiench, oi rather the Norman-French language, was intro¬ 
duced into our courts of law by the Conqueror, and°was the only 
language used till the reign of Edward III., in the year 1362 when 
an act was passed, that the counsel at the bar shall plead in the 
English tongue, but the pleadings to be entered in Latin. 

Anothei writer says: It is said on the lords’ committee on the 
privileges of peers, that the prelates, dukes, earls, barons, and all 
the commons, having at length shown the king the mischiefs aris- 
lng fiom the laws, customs, and statutes of the realm, not being 
known to them, because they were impleaded, shown, and judged 
m French language, which was little known in the kinodom * 
and the king with their consent willed, that all proceedino- s hence¬ 
forth should be in the English tongue. The French language 
notwithstanding, was still used in the rolls of parliament 0 ° ’ 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


123 


ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. 

Prior to the Long Parliament, the term Ordinance of Parliament 
was used; but on the 16th of January, 1649, the Commons altered 
their style, and called their ordinances Acts of Parliament, which 
term is used at the present day. 

RUMP PARLIAMENT. 

The parliament, which in history is styled the Pump Parliament, 
was thus denominated because it was a remnant, or the latter 
end of the Long Parliament, which had been forcibly dissolved 
by Oliver Cromwell. It was assembled in May, 1659, and con¬ 
sisted of little more than seventy members. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Transportation of criminals first commenced about 1599, when 
it was enacted that all rogues dangerous to the inferior people 
should be banished. At that time, the English plantations in 
North America w T ere the receptacles of transported convicts. 

Henry the VIII. executed 72,000during his reign! 

ALEHOUSE LICENCES. 

Ale and alehouses in England, are made mention of in the laws 
of Ina, king of Wessex. Licences were introduced, 1551. 

NAVAL SALUTE TO THE ENGLISH FLAG. 

This honour to the Flag of England, first commenced in Alfred’s 
reign, and has continued ever since. 

AFFIRMATION OF THE QUAKERS 

Was first accepted as an oath, in 1702; an alteration made in 
it, December 13,1721. 

SWEARING ON THE GOSPEL 

In our courts of law, &c., was first used in 528. 

“ He that imposes an oath makes it, 

Not he that for convenience takes it; 

Then how can any man be said, 

To break an oath he never made?”— Huclibras. 

AUCTIONS 

Were first introduced into Britain about 1700, by Elisha Yule, a 
governor of Fort George, in the East Indies; who disposed of a 
cargo of goods he had brought home with him by this means. 



124 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ORIGIN OF TITHES. 

Selden, in his History of Tithes, says, they were anciently dis¬ 
posed of by the owners of the land where they arose, at their 
pleasure, to such monasteries, and in such portions as they thought 
proper. Every person founding a church for his own use, and 
that of his tenants, appropriated to it the tithes of his lands. 

When Christianity was first introduced into Britain, and prior 
to its distribution into parishes, all tithes, oblations, and eccle¬ 
siastical profit, belonged exclusively to the bishops, who invari¬ 
ably resided with their clergy, presbyters, and deacons in their 
Cathedral church. Such was the practice of our British, as well 
as afterwards of our more recent Saxon ancestors. The first 
charter by which tithes were granted in England, may be con¬ 
sidered as a curious historical document. The following is given 
as a literal translation of it:—“ I, Ethelwolfe, by the grace of 
God, King of the West Saxons, &c., with the advice of the 
Bishops, Earls, and all persons of distinction in my dominions, 
have, for the health of my soul, the good of my people, and the 
prosperity of my kingdom, taken the honourable resolution of 
granting the tenth part of the lands throughout my whole king¬ 
dom to the Church and Ministers of religion, to be enjoyed by 
them with all the privilege of a free tenure, and discharged from 
all the incumbrances incidental to lay-fees. This grant has been 
made by us in honour of Jesus Christ, the blessed Virgin, and all 
Saints; and out of regard to the Pascal Solemnity, and that 
Almighty God might vouchsafe his blessings on us and our 
posterity.—Dated at Wilton, Ann. D., 854, at the feast of Easter.” 

Prcedial tithes are such as are produced from the ground, 
as grain of all sorts .—Mixed tithes are those animals which 
are nourished from the ground .—Personal tithes are such profits 
as are derived from personal industry .—Great tithes consists of 
corn, hay, and wood .—Small tithes, as the preedial tithes of other 
kinds, together with those which are called mixed and personal. 

EXCHEQUER BILLS. 

In the years 1696 and 1697, the silver currency of the kingdom 
being, by clipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c., reduced to about 
half its nominal value, acts of parliament were passed for its 
being called in and recoined: but whilst recoinage was going on, 
Exchequer Bills were first issued to supply the demand of trade. 
The quantity of silver recoined, according to D’Avenant, from 
the old hammered money, amounted to £5,725,933. It is worthy 
of remark, that through the difficulties experienced by the Bank 
of England (which had been established only three years) during 
the recoinage, they having taken the clipped silver at its nomi¬ 
nal value, and guineas at an advanced price ; bank notes were in 
1697 at a discount of from 15 to 20 per cent. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


125 


“During tlio recoinage,” says D’Avenant, “all great dealings 
were transacted by tallies, bank bills, and goldsmiths’ notes. 
Paper credit not only supplied the place of running cash, but 
greatly multiplied the kingdom’s stock; for tallies and bank bills 
did to many uses serve as well, and to some better than gold or 
silver; and this artificial wealth, which necessity had introduced, 
did make us less feel the want of that real treasure, which the 
Avar and our losses at sea had drawn out of the nation. ” 

POOR LAWS AND POOR HOUSES. 

The Poor Laws "were enacted in the reign of Elizabeth. An 
eagerness for depopulating the lands, in order to traffic in sheep 
and wool, may be classed among the imperative reasons of that 
queen’s government for the enactment of them. The people 
were thus as thoroughly deprived of the means of life, as if the 
grain should be given to the Moors of Africa. It is vain to say, 
that the benefit of the traffic Avould have returned to them in 
another shape. There Avas neither arts nor manufactures 
whereby they could create a claim to the lowest rate of pro¬ 
vision. A good modern economist would say, that they ought to 
liaA r e been left to the pinching of their kite, to compel them to 
that discovery: but the laws had left them no such liberty, and 
they were mostly the property of the owners of the land. 

That parish excrescence, the Poor-house, how T ever, did'not 
make its appearance till the reign of Queen Anne ; an introduc¬ 
tion which has created more dissolute and idle lieges in a century, 
than the poor laAvs of themselves would have done in five. Prior 
to that reign, the poor were farmed out; at length the alarming 
increase of pauperism in England occasioned, in 1832, the appoint¬ 
ment of a commission of inquiry. Their report was presented in 
February, 1834, and was followed by the passing, in August 1834, 
of the Poor Law Amendment Act; the chief provisions of Avhich 
are:—the appointment of a Central board; the further appoint¬ 
ment of nine assistant commissioners; and the whole to be sub¬ 
ject to the direction of the Secretary of State for the Home 
department. The administration of relief to the poor is placed 
under the control of the commissioners, whose rules are binding 
upon all local bodies. By the Act 1 and 2 Victoria, c. 56, the 
system was extended to Ireland. A compulsory provision for the 
poor has been in force for above two centuries in Scotland, and 
which resembles in many respects the English law, but has been 
more wisely administered. 

GUILDHALL. 

Guild signified, among our Saxon ancestors, a fraternity, 
derived from the Saxon word to pay, because every man paid his 
share towards the expenses of the community; and hence the 


126 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


place of meeting was called Guild, or Guildhall. Hence also the 
term, the Guild of Merchants, in Dublin. The “ hall of guilds,” 
or the Guildhall of London, was erected in 1411, by sums raised 
for pardons of offences, and by fines. It was destroyed in the 
great fire of 1666, and afterwards rebuilt, in length 170 feet west 
to east, and breadth 68 feet north to south, at the cost of 
,£40,000. 

KING’S BENCH. 

This court originated in the ancient Aula Begia, in which the 
king was accustomed (as he still is supposed in the King’s Bench 
by fiction of law) to sit in person. The Judges of the Court of 
King’s Bench, as well as of the other supreme courts, varied in 
number according to the royal discretion. They now number 
five, the Chief Justice and four younger Judges. The title of 
“ Capitalis Justiciarius ad placita coram Bege tenenda;” or as 
we now style it, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, was first 
conferred on Bobert de Brus, March 8, 1268, 52 Henry III.— 
See Foss’ Judges of England, vol. ii. p 155. 

COMMON PLEAS. 

This Court was first designated by its present name in the reign 
of Edward the First, and was given merely to distinguish 
it from the King’s Bench. The engines of the law, however, 
especially the Sergeants, have created other profitable technicali¬ 
ties, and who have been keenly satirized by the late Lord 
Erskine in the following celebrated impromptu:— 

“ The Sergeants are a grateful race, 

And all their actions shew it; 

Their purple garments come from Tyre, 

Their arguments go to it 


COURT OF CHANCERY. 

This Court, according to divers learned men, owes its name 
to certain cross bars of wood, or iron, wherewith it was enclosed, 
to prevent the officers who sat therein from being incommoded 
by the people. Such grates, or cross bars, were by the Bomans 
denominated cancelli; which, according to the opinion of some, 
gave likewise the name to that part of a church called the 
chancel , from its being separated from the body of the church 
by such grates or lattices, by order of Pope Felix, for the use of 
the priests. 

EXCHEQUER COURT. 

This, which is one of the four great courts (says Maitland) of 
the kingdom, derives its name from a chequered cloth which 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


127 


anciently covered the table where the judges or chief officers sat; 
and being coeval with the Norman conquest, it was at first erected 
by William the Conqueror, for the trial of all causes relating to 
the revenues of the Crown. 

MAE9HALSEA COURT. 

Marshalsea Court, says Maitland, is a corruption of Marshal’s 
Court. This Court, which was held in Southwark under the 
Knight Marshal, was first established for the jurisdiction of 
personal actions within twelve miles of Whitehall. It was abol¬ 
ished in 1849. 


DOCTORS’ COMMONS. 

The several courts and offices whereof this college is at present 
composed, says Maitland, were anciently dispersed, and held in 
several parts of the city; which being relative, and in some 
measure depending upon one another, occasioned great incon¬ 
veniences to the respective practitioners; wherefore the Doctors 
and Proctors of the several courts unanimously united in a 
collegiate manner, and, by dining together in common , obtained 
the apjDellation of Doctors’ Commons. This college, which is a 
spacious and stately edifice, situate on the west side of St. Bennet’s 
Hill, is inhabited by several of the Doctors and Proctors of the 
civil law in this city; who, before they removed to this house, 
which was provided for them by Dr. John Hervey, Dean of the 
Arches, they cohabited in a small house, now the Queen’s Head 
Tavern, in Paternoster-row. 

ARCHES COURT. 

This is the supreme Court of Appeal in the Archbishopric of 
Canterbury. It derives its name from having formerly been 
held in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, which is built on arches, 
from which place it was removed in 1567 to the Common Hall of 
Doctors’ Commons, near St. Paul’s Church, where it is now held. 

PREROGATIVE COURT. 

This Court, says Maitland, which is held in Doctors’ Commons, 
is thus denominated from the Prerogative of the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, who, by a special privilege beyond those of his 
suffragans, can here try all disputes that happen to arise, con¬ 
cerning wills and administrations of persons who have left goods 
to the Value of Five Pounds, without the diocese wherein he or 
she died ; unless such things are settled by composition between 
the metropolitan and his suffragans, as in the diocese of London, 
where it is Ten Pounds. 


128 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


DUCHY OF LANCASTER COURT. 

This Court owes its origin to Henry IV., who, deposing Richard 
II., usurped the crown ; and, possessing the Duchy of Lancaster 
in right of his mother, was seized thereof as duke, as well as 
king. But imagining his right to the duchy better than that to 
the crown, he resolved to secure the same by separating it from 
the crown ; which being effected, he erected this court for its use, 
wherein all matters of law and equity belonging to the duchy, 
or County Palatine of Lancaster, are heard and decided by the 
Chancellor thereof. 


PRINCIPALITY OF CHESTER. 

/ 

In 1398, says Maitland, Richard the Second brought into 
Shrewsbury a numerous guard of the militia of Cheshire, who 
expressed so strong an inclination to serve him, that to gratify 
the county he erected it into a Principality, and added to the 
rest of his titles that of Prince of Chester. 

STAR CHAMBER. 

This Court was originally the privy council itself, sitting in 
the Star Chamber. It was mentioned as early as the reign of 
Edward III. By Henry VII. it was, however, carried to its 
greatest height, by an act passed in the third year of his reign. 
It is also said to be so called from its having its roof painted 
with silver or gilt stars, wherein the Chancellor, assisted by 
others appointed for that purpose, had authority to punish routs, 
riots, and other misdemeanours, that were not by common law 
provided against; but happily for future ages, the power and 
jurisdiction of this tyrannical authority was absolutely abolished 
by statute 17th of Charles. It is indeed extolled by Lord Bacon, 
who styles the statute for the erection of this most despotic 
court, “ a good law.” And in like manner Sir T. Smith, in his 
“ Commonwealth of England,” advances in its defence, “ that it 
was useful to govern those who were too stout for the ordinarv 
courts of justice.” It continued to exercise very important 
jurisdiction, both in political matters and in private concerns, 
during the reigns of Henry VIII. and his successors, until it 
was finally dissolved by Charles I. 

BOARD OF GREEN CLOTH. 

This Board, which takes cognizance of all matters of court eti¬ 
quette, from the shape of a buckle to the cut of a petticoat, takes 
its name from even a more simple circumstance than the preced¬ 
ing, viz., from the table where the most puissant council sit, 
being covered with green cloth ! 


/ 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 129 

COURT OF PIE POUDRE. 

This is tlie lowest, and at the same time the most expeditious 
(as the title implies), court in the kingdom. It was established 
to settle on the spot disputes arising at fairs or markets. It is 
said to be called the court of pie poudre , curia pedis pulverizati, 
from the dusty feet of the suitors ; or, as Sir Edward Coke says, 
because justice is there done as speedily as dust can fall from the 
feet; but Blackstone, who says thus much of this court, inclines 
to the opinion of Baines Barrington, who derives it from pied 
puldreaux (a pedlar in old French), and says it signifies, there¬ 
fore, the court of such petty chapmen as resort to fairs or markets. 
Fosbroke says—Courts similar to pie poudre courts were usual 
both with Greeks and Romans, who introduced fairs into Germany 
and the North. 


TURNPIKES. 

The etymology of turnpike is as follows:—In early times it 
was the custom to fasten a pike, or spear-head, loosely to the top 
of a post, in order to prevent the intrusion of travellers not duly 
authorised to pass. This turning round, of course presenting a 
point on every side, gave rise to the name turnpike. They were 
erected as early as a.d. 1267, as we find a grant of a penny for 
each waggon passing through a manor.—See Index or Catalogue 
of the Patent Rolls , Henry III. 51, m. 21. A toll was also im¬ 
posed in the reign of Edward III., for repairing the road between 
St. Giles and Temple Bar. The first act for the repair of the 
public roads was passed in 1698. When turnpike-tolls were 
first demanded, the lower orders of the people evinced much 
opposition to the measure, and many were punished for pulling 
down the gates, and maltreating the collectors. 

WAR WITH FRANCE. 

“ Peace be to France, if France in peace permit, 

The lineal heritance to our own; if not, 

Bleed France, and peace ascend to Heaven !” 

Shahspeare. 

When the fair were accustomed to behold their lovers with 
beards, the sight of a shaved chin excited sentiments of horror 
and aversion ; as much indeed as, in this effeminate age, would 
a gallant whose hairy excrescence should 

* Stream like a meteor to the troubled air.” 

To obey the injunctions of his bishops, Louis the Seventh of 
France cropped his hair, and shaved his beard. Eleanor of Acqui- 
taine, his consort, found him some little time after their marriage, 
with this uncommon appearance, very ridiculous, and very con- 

K 


/ 


130 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


temptible ; and told him, that when she married him she thought 
she had married a man, not a monk. She revenged herself, by 
becoming something more than a coquette. The king obtained 
a divorce. She then married the Count of Anjou, who shortly 
after ascended the English throne as Henry II. She gave him 
for her marriage dower the rich provinces of Poitou and Guienne ; 
and this was the origin of those wars which for three hundred 
years ravaged France, and which cost the French nation three 
millions of men. All which probably had never taken place, had 
Louis VII. not been so rash as to crop his hair and shave his 
beard, by which he disgusted the fair Eleanor. 

THE AMERICAN WAR. 

The imposts on stamps, or, in other words, the Stamp Act, may 
be said to have originated this unnatural and impolitic war, and 
which commenced at Lexington in 1775. The following is a speci¬ 
men of the feeling which animated the Americans at that day. 
When Patrick Henry, who gave the first impulse to the American 
revolution, introduced his celebrated resolution on the Stamp Act, 
in the House of Burgesses of Virginia, he exclaimed, when des¬ 
canting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, “ Cmsar had his 
Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the 

Third-” “ Treason! ” cried the Speaker. “ Treason, Treason!! ” 

echoed from every part of the house. It was one of those trying 
moments which are decisive of character. Henry faltered not 
for an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the 
Speaker an eye flashing with fire, exclaimed, “ may profit by their 
example. If this be treason, make the best of it !” 

It is said, that George the Third manifested an unbecoming 
impatience relative to the declaration of war against the Ameri¬ 
cans ; and that when the American Commissioners for the peace 
were presented to him, he said, “ I have been the last man in my 
dominions to accede to this peace, which separates America from 
my kingdom. I will be the first man, now that it is made, to 
resist any attempt to impugn it.” 

LOTTERIES. 

The first lottery is said to have been drawn a.d. 1569. It con¬ 
sisted of 400,000 lots, at ten shillings each lot; the prizes were 
plate, and the profits were to go towards repairing the havens 
of the kingdom. It was drawn at the west door of St. Paul’s 
cathedral. The drawing began on the 11th January, 1569, and 
continued incessantly drawing, day and night, till the 6th May 
following, as Maitland, from Stow, informs us in his History, 
vol. i., p. 257. There were then only three lottery-offices in 
London. The proposals for this lottery were published in the 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


131 


years 1567 and 1568. It was at first intended to have been drawn 
at the house of Mr. Dericke, her Majesty’s servant (i. e. jeweller), 
but was afterwards drawn as above mentioned. The first State 
or Parliamentary lottery took place in the year 1709, and from 
that time down to 1823 they were annually licensed by Act of 
Parliament under a variety of regulations. During this century 
government constantly availed itself of this means to raise money 
for various public works, of which the British Museum and West¬ 
minster bridge are well known examples. But, at the commence¬ 
ment of the present century, a great repugnance began to be 
manifested in Parliament to this method of raising the public 
revenue, in consequence of the spirit of gambling which it tfended 
to foster in the great body of the people. So that the government, 
in the year 1823, consented to the entire abolition both of state 
and private lotteries. 

NATIONAL DEBT. 

The contracting of the English National Debt cannot be said 
to have been begun before the Revolution of 1688. Even for some 
years after the accession of William and Mary, the borrowings 
of the government were for short periods only. The first trans¬ 
action of this kind of a permanent character arose out of the 
chartering of the Bank of England in 1693, when its capital of 
£1,200,000 was lent to the public at 8 per cent. The debt at the 
time of the Revolution in 1688 amounted to £664,263; on the first 
of February 1817, when the English and Irish exchequers were 
consolidated, to £840,850,491; and in 1839, the total of unre¬ 
deemed debt was £853,519,647. 

FRANKING LETTERS. 

In the Parliamentary History, vol. xxiii., is the following very 
curious anecdote concerning this privilege. It occurred in the 
debate on the Post-office bill in the year 1660. “ Colonel Titus 

reported the bill for the settlement of the post-office, with the 
amendments. Sir Walter Earle delivered a proviso, for the 
letters of all members of parliament to go free during their sitting. 
Sir Heneage Finch said, ‘ It was a poor mendicant proviso, and 
below the honour of the House.’ Mr. Prynn spoke also against 
the proviso. Mr. Bunckley, Mr. Boscawen, Sir George Downing, 
and Sergeant Charlton, for it; the latter saying, the counsel’s 
letters were free. The question being called for, the Speaker, 
Sir Harbottle Grimstone, was unwilling to put it, saying he was 
ashamed of it: nevertheless, the proviso was carried, and made 
part of the bill, which was ordered to be engrossed. The Lords 
subsequently disagreed to this proviso, and it was ultimately 
thrown out. At a subsequent -period, however, both Houses 
did not feel it to be below their honour to secure for themselves 
this exemption from postage.” All parliamentary and official 


132 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


franking was .abolished by the Act 2 and 3 Yict. cap. 52, which 
established the present uniform rate of Postage. 

DEPORTING OF PARLIAMENTARY SPEECHES. 

The practice of reporting originated in 1736, with Mr. Cave, 
the proprietor of the Gentleman 1 s Magazine, but William Woodfall, 
the printer of The Diary , 1789, 'was the man who first re¬ 
ported the Parliamentary debates in a proper manner. He 
was to be seen every night in the gallery of the House of 
Commons, with his cane-head in his mouth, never varying his 
posture, and never taking a note; and yet the following day re¬ 
porting the speeches without the loss of a single word, though 
perhaps he would call at the theatre in his way home to see a 
new farce, or a new.performer, for his criticism; and yet his 
memory disposed of such various gleanings without the least 
confusion, or any apparent technical help. What an enviable 
talent! 


BUDGET. 


. Ch. Coquelin says, that the word budget , in its present 
signification, has passed into France from England: the latter 

country having first borrowed it from the old French language_ 

bougette signifying (and particularly in old Norman) a°leather 
purse. . It was the custom in England to put into a leather ban- 
the estimates of receipts and expenditure presented to parliament** 
and hence, as Coquelin observes, the term passed from the con- 
tainant to the contained, and, with this new signification, returned 
from this country into France; where it was first used in an 
official manner in the arretes of the Consul’s, 4th Thermidor vear 
X., and 17th Germinal, year XI. J J 


HERALDRY, TITLES AND DIGNITIES, VARIOUS ORDERS AND INSIGNIA, 
ORIGIN OF VARIOUS ROYAL AND NOBLE FAMILIES, 
CHRISTIAN NAMES, &c. 


HERALDRY. 

in ^ t h te R L .f ? C . ourtoe y> who was of one of the oldest families 
in Ueat Britain, having married a Miss Clack, who was mucl 

i ™ P°‘ n * °f hirth, a conversation took place (at which tin 
late Bishop of Exeter was present) on the disparity of the con 

wYY° n w V1 ‘- tl - S y°« r objection?” said the bishop to a lady 

mv lord ” w mC t IP f ? ar ^, in ,^ e e ? nversati011 - “ Want of family 
my foul. A i ant of family ! echoed the bishop. “Why, I’ll 








TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


133 


prove her of better family than his lordship’s. He may, perhaps, 
trace his family as far back as the conquest, but the family of the 
Clacks are as old as Eve !”—So, reader, it may almost be said of 
Heraldry, the true origin of which is lost in the mazes of antiquity. 

In a small work, published in 1721, entitled The British Com¬ 
pendium, or Rudiments of Honour, is the following passage:— 
“ Abel, the second son of Adam, bore his father’s coat quartered 
with that of his mother Eve, she being an heiress, viz., gules and 
argent; and Joseph’s coat was party-per-pale argent , and gules” 

Heraldry came first into general use about the year 1100. As 
regards crests, the assumption of them took its data from Edward 
the Black Prince assuming the device of the blind king of Bo¬ 
hemia, who was slain at the battle of Crecy. Prior to that 
period, they were only allowable by grant. Another writer says, 
“Harry, surnamed the Fowler, Emperor of the West, who regu¬ 
lated the tournaments in Germany, was the first who introduced 
those marks of honour, Armouries, or Coats of Arms. Before 
that time we find nothing upon ancient tombs but crosses, with 
Gothic inscriptions, and decorations of persons entombed. The 
time of Clement IV., who died a.d. 1268, is the first whereon we 
find any arms ; nor do they appear struck upon any coins before 
the year 1336. Camden refers the origin of hereditary arms 
in England to the time of the first Norman kings. Chronology 
says, coats of arms and heraldry were introduced in 1100, and 
that the arms of England and France were first quartered by 
Edward III., 1358.” 

HERALDS. 

In the days of chivalry, the principal employment of the herald 
was to carry messages of defiance, or proposals of peace, from 
one sovereign prince or chieftain to another; and in such high 
esteem was the office held, that the senior heralds were styled 
kings, and the sovereign himself vested them with the dignity 
by pouring a gold cup of wine on their heads, and proclaiming 
their style and title. In modern times, the principal business of 
the herald is to proclaim peace and war, to superintend all royal 
and state ceremonies, particularly coronations, and the installa¬ 
tions of the knights of different orders; to arrange public 
funerals, to record and emblazon the arms of the nobility and 
gentry, and check all spurious assumptions in this respect. 

HERALDS’ COLLEGE. 

The College of Arms, commonly called the Heralds’ College, is 
situated on the east side of St Bennet’s Hill, Doctors’ Commons, 
at the south-west end of St. Paul’s Churchyard. It was destroyed 
by the fire in 1666, but rebuilt about three years after. It is a 
spacious brick edifice, having an arched gateway in front, leading 


/ 






134 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

into a handsome quadrangle. The society was first incorporated 
by Richard III. The Earl Marshal of England is superior for 
their college, and has the right of appointing the members of which 
it consists: namely, three Kings at Arms, six Heralds at Arms, 
and four Pursuivants at Arms. 

The Kings are, Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy. Garter was 
instituted by Henry Y. for the service of the order of the Garter, 
and is acknowledged as principal King at Arms. Clarencieux 
and Norroy are called provincial kings, the former having juris¬ 
diction over that part of England south of the Trent, and the 
latter over the country north of that river. The distinguishing 
colour of Garter is blue ; of the two provincial kings, purple. 

The six heralds are styled, of York, Lancaster, Cheshire, 
Windsor, Richmond, Somerset, who rank according to seniority 
of appointment. 

The four Pursuivants are Blue-mantle, Rouge-croix, Rouge- 
dragon, and Port-culles. 


CRESTS. 

A crest, which derives its appellation from crista , the comb 
of a cock, denotes in heraldry and armour the uppermost part of 
an armorial bearing, or that part which rises over the casque or 
helmet, next to the mantle. In heraldry only, the crest is a 
figure placed upon a wreath, coronet, or cap of maintenance, above 
both helmet and shield; as, for instance, the crest of a bishop is 
the mitre. The right to assume these distinguishing emblems 
was originally deemed one of the principal marks of nobility; 
which may be inferred from their having been borne at tourna¬ 
ments, to which none were admitted unless they had given strong 
proof of magnanimity, courage, or merit, or possessed the advan¬ 
tage of superior birth. Hence also the crest is esteemed a cri¬ 
terion of higher nobility than the armour generally. 

The ancient warriors wore crests, to strike terror in their 
enemies, as the representations of animals they had killed : or to 
give them a more formidable mien, by making them appear 
taller and more martial. Hence, the term crest-fallen is often 
used figuratively, to express a want of spirit or courage. Some¬ 
times the crest has served to distinguish sovereigns and com¬ 
manders in the field; at others, to mark the several branches 
of a family; and, on some occasions, as the distinauisliina badae 
of factions. 


PEERDOM. 

Peerdom is thus defined by Bailey. — The dignity of a peer 
annexed to a great fee. Of late years, we believe, it has been 
customary to take a great fee from the Peer. 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


135 


ST. GEORGE, PATRON SAINT OF ENGLAND. 

St. George was chosen the tutelar Saint of England by our 
ancestors, under the first Norman kings; and the Council of 
Oxford, in 1822, commanded his feast to be kept a holiday of 
the lesser rank. Under his name and ensign, our Edward the 
Third instituted the Order of the Garter. Butler informs 
us, that St. George was born in Cappadocia; that he went with 
his mother into Palestine, of which country she was a native, 
where she had a considerable estate, which fell to her son George, 
who was a soldier, and became a tribune or colonel in the army, 
wherein he was further promoted by the Emperor Dioclesian, 
to whom he resigned his commissions and posts, when that 
empire waged war against the Christian religion, and who threw 
him into prison for'remonstrating against bloody edicts, and caused 
him to be beheaded. St. George became the patron of the military 
because he had been military himself, and that his apparition en¬ 
couraged the Christian army before Antioch, which proved for¬ 
tunate, under Godfrey of Bouillon. There are many idle tales 
about the dragon, but this was no more than an emblematical figure, 
purporting that by his faith and Christian fortitude he conquered 
the devil, called the dragon in Apocalypse. An old popular ballad 
not only gives the genealogy of St. George, but assigns to him marks, 
which have a direct reference to the institution of the garter:— 

" A blood-red Cross was on his arm, 

A dragon on his breast: 

A little garter all of gold, 

Was round his leg exprest.” 

ST. DENIS, PATRON SAINT OF FRANCE. 

All that we learn of St. Denis, or St. Denys, is, that he was, 
with other martyrs, beheaded in the year 252, near to Paris, at a 
place which has since been called Mons Martyrum (Montmartre), 
the mountain of martyrs, in honour of them. Ribadeneira says, 
the body of St. Denis rose upon its feet, and took its own head 
up in its hands, as if he had triumphed, and carried in it the 
crown and token of its victories. The angels of Heaven, he con¬ 
tinues, went on accompanying the Saint, singing hymns clioirwise, 
with a celestial harmony and concert, and ended with these 
words, u gloria tibi , Domino, alleluia ,* ” and the Saint went with 
his head in his hands about two miles, till he met with a good 
woman called Catula, who came out of her house ; and the body 
of St. Denis going to her, it put the head in her hands. He was 
Bishop of Paris ; and the abbey of St. Denis is named in honour 
of him. His festival is kept, October 9tli. 

TITLES AND DIGNITIES. 

Opinions have changed upon all things, and greatly upon Titles 
and Dignities. Who has not seen a Consul appointed to reside 






136 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

in a fishing town ? Who has not given a shilling to a Marquis, 
a sixpence to a Knight ! A Roman senator was beneath the 
level of an English gentleman ; yet not only a Roman senator, 
but a Roman citizen, held himself superior to foreign kind's. 
Surely it might well be permitted our Richard to assume a rank 
far above any potentate of his age. If almanacs and German 
court calendars are to decide on dignities, the Emperors of 
Morocco, of Austria, and of Mexico, should precede the Kings of 
England and France ; but learned men have thought otherwise. 
Rank, which pretends to fix the value of every one, is the most 
arbitrary of all things. 

THE KING. 

The title of King, given to the sovereign of these realms, is 
expressive of his being the chief or head of the state. The 
Hebrew word Rosch is considered as the root of all the present 
titles, denoting kingly or sovereign power ; namely, the Punic 
Resch, the Scythian Reix, the Latin Rex , the Spanish Rey, and 
the French Roi. The present English appellative, King, is 
however derived from the Saxon word honing or cuning from 
oan intimating power, or ken knowledge. And it is past dispute 
that all the German nations styled their ancient monarchs ac¬ 
cording to their different dialects, Konig, Kuning, Konino* Kino* 

Egbert, grandfather of Alfred the Great, was the firstking of 
England. 


PRINCE OF WALES. 

This title was first given by Edward I. to his son Edward, 
afterwards Edward II., to reconcile the Welsh to his conquest of 
that country. The Prince was born at Caernarvon, from which 
circumstance he also took the name of Edward of Caernarvon. 


DUKE. 

The title and degree of a duke is of more ancient standing i n 
other countries than with us, for at the time of the Conquest the 

reaf ln tw lf nS? ^ ^ ° f i Normand y » which, perhaps, was the 
1 eason that neither he, nor his successors for several ages, thought 

Pdw/? S TTT Subject S ? hi 2 h , a di " nit L- About a year before, 
in-fr med , the tltle ® f Kin S of F™nce, in order to 
military ardour; and to gratify the ambition of his 
Eails and Barons, he introduced a new order of nobility, by 
creating his eldest son Edward, Duke of Cornwall.— This^ was 

unon thp\ffh /i emn i ltj 1 oo/ U J 1 P a f liament , at Westminster, 
vouno- Prinp of March, 133/, by girding a sword upon the 
>oung Prince and giving him a patent, containing a grant 

of the name, title, and dignity of a duke, and of several lar<r 0 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


137 


estates, in order to enable him to support his dignity. The title 
is derived from the French Due. 

Another writer says— 

The first hereditary dnke created in England was the Black 
Prince, by his father Edward III., in a.d. 1337. The Duchy of 
Cornwall, then bestowed upon him, thenceforward became 
attached to the king’s eldest son, who is considered to be dux 
nalus. The Duchy of Lancaster was soon after conferred on his 
third son, John of Gaunt, and thence arose the especial privileges 
which these two duchies still in part retain. In the following 
reign, 21 Bichard II., Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk, was so 
created for life. In the reign of Elizabeth, in 1572, the ducal 
order was extinct, nor was it revived till the creation of Yilliers, 
Duke of Buckingham, by James I. 


MARQUIS. 

This title is derived from the French marquis , and was first 
conferred in England by Bicliard II., who, in 1387, created 
Bobert Yere, Earl of Oxford, Marquis of Dublin. It was not, 
however, till very recent reigns that the title became more 
general. ' 

EARL. 

This is the oldest English title that we have, and is by some 
supposed to imply the governor of a certain tract of land. Alfred 
is said to have been created an Earl by his brother after the 
battle of Basing. After the Conquest, it was used by the English 
to express the French title of Count. Hence the wife of an Earl 
is still styled Countess. 


EARL MARSHAL. 

The head of the Heralds’ College of Arms. Camden, in his 
Discourse on the office of Earl Marshal, alleges that it was first 
introduced in the reign of Bichard II., who conferred it on 
Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, his predecessors having 
only been styled Marshals of England. 


BARON. 

This title is Norman, and coeval with William the Conqueror. 

VISCOUNT. 

* 

Although this title takes precedence of Baron, it is not of so 
long standing in England. It is derived from the French vis- 
c 'omte , and was first conferred in this country in 1439. 




138 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BARONET. 

This title is derived from Baron, and was first instituted in 
England by James I., in 1611. 

BARONETS OF IRELAND. 

The Baronets of Ireland were instituted by James I., for the 
same purpose with the Baronets of England, namely, to raise 
money for the benefit of the province of Ulster in Ireland. 

BARONETS OF NOVA SCOTIA. 

Nova Scotia Baronets were first created in 1625, for the en¬ 
couragement of the planting and settlement of Nova Scotia. 

ADMIRAL. 

According to Ducange, the Sicilians were the first, and the 
Genoese the next, who gave the name of Admiral to the com¬ 
manders of their fleets, deriving it from the Arabic, amir or emir , 
a designation applicable to any commanding-officer. 

ESQUIRE. 

The title of Esquire is coeval with the Conqueror, but in its 
present application it takes its data from Henry Y.; some go so 
far back as Edward III., but this is a mistake, as in that reign 
an Esquire was only, as it originally implied, an attendant on a 
knight. Eustace and Mercoeur were the esquires or attendants 
of Edward the Black Prince. The word is derived from the 
Norman Equiere , from whence is also derived Equerry. Henry V., 
after his victory at Agincourt, reads from a paper presented by 
a herald, the names of the principal characters who were slain:— 

Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, 

Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, Esquire: 

None else of name; and, of all other men, 

But five and twenty. 

Nothing can be more absurd than the commonly received 
notion, that a certain property constitutes a man an Esquire ; in 
the country, however, every village has its ’Squire, and to dub 
him less would be an affront not easily forgiven. The fact is, 
none are Esquires, de facto , but the following, viz.:—1st. The 
eldest sons of Knights, and their eldest sons in perpetual succes¬ 
sion. 2nd. The eldest sons of younger sons of Peers, and their 
elder sons in like perpetual succession. 3rd. Esquires created 
by the King’s Letters Patent, or other investiture, and tlieir 
eldest sons. 4th. Esquires by virtue of their office, as Justices 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


139 


of the Peace, and others who bear any office of trust under the 
Crown. To these may be added the Esquires of Knights of the 
Bath, each of whom constitutes three at his installation; * 
and all Foreign, nay, Irish Peers; for not only these, but the 
eldest sons of Peers of Great Britain, though frequently titular 
Lords, are only Esquires in the law, and must be so named in all 
legal proceedings ; all officers in the army down to a Captain, and 
all officers in the navy down to a Lieutenant. These are the 
only Esquires de facto , however the title or distinction may be 
assumed, or courteously bestowed. It will even be observed, 
that a Lieutenant in the Army is not an Esquire, but that a 
Lieutenant in the Navy is: this statement may be relied on. 

The following question relative to the precedency of Esquires 
by office, is taken literally from the Harleian MSS., 1433, and is 
written on the first leaf of the Visitation of Surrey. The signa¬ 
tures appear to be original autographs. 

Question. Whether an Esquire by office, shall take place of 
another Esquire by office, who was made Esquire by virtue of 
the said office six or seven years after, although the latter may 
be the more ancient gentleman % 

Answer. The office being of equal rank and quality, he that 
is first an Esquire by office, shall take the place of him that is 
made Esquire afterwards by virtue of the said office, although 
the latter may be the more ancient gentleman. 

(Signed) John Borough, Garter Principal King of Arms. 

William Le Leve, Clarencieux. 

Henry St. George, Norroy. 

sir. 

The title of “ Sir,” in former times, was given to all who had 
taken a degree, or had entered into orders. Thus, ITearne, the 
antiquary, after he had taken his degree of B. A., was addressed 
as Sir Hearne (Aubrey’s Letters, i. 117); and Waynfleet (after¬ 
wards Bishop of Winchester) was called Sir Waynfleet after he 
had taken the same degree.—Chandler’s Life of Waynfleet , p. 54. 

CHANCELLOR. 

The title of Chancellor originated with the Romans.—(See 
article under the head of Chancery.) It was adopted by the 
church, and became a half ecclesiastic and half lay office. The 
Chancellor was intrusted with all public instruments which 
were authenticated; and when seals came into use, the custody 
of them was committed to that officer. The mere delivery of the 
King’s Great Seal, or the taking it away, is all the ceremony 

* A privilege annulled in 1847. 


140 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


that is used in creating or unmaking a Chancellor, the officer of 
the greatest weight and power subsisting in the kingdom. The 
first Chancellor in England was appointed in the reign of Wil¬ 
liam the Conqueror, and, with only one exception, it was enjoyed 
by ecclesiastics until the time of Elizabeth, when such officers 
were called Keepers of the Great Seal. From the time of Sir 
Thomas More’s appointment, which took place in the reign of 
Henry VIII., there is only one instance of a clergyman having 
been elevated to the office, namely, Dr. Williams, Dean of 
Westminster, in the time of James I. The Chancellor is a Privy 
Counsellor by office, and Speaker of the House of Lords by pre¬ 
scription. tie takes precedence of every temporal lord except 
the royal family, and of all others except the Archbishop of 
Canterbury. 


EMPEROR. 

Emperor, from Imperateur or Imperator, a General or Com¬ 
mander of Legions; this is the actual meaning, although assumed 
as one implying more consequence. 

In 1731, Mr. Whitworth, afterwards Lord Whitworth, Envoy 
from Queen Anne to the Russian Court, received the title of 
Ambassador Extraordinary, and on the 5th of January he had a 
public audience, at which, by order of the queen, his mistress, 
he employed the title of Emperor in speaking to his Majesty, 
and in the letter which the ambassador delivered from the 
queen, the same title was found, instead of the ancient one of 
the Czar. Charlemagne assumed the title of Emperor after his 
coronation at Rome ; and from his time, the title was claimed 
exclusively in Western Europe by the rulers of Germany. On the 
dissolution of the German empire in 1805, the title passed to the 
Emperor of Austria, and in the same year Napoleon assumed it in 
France; the Czars of Russia claimed it in the reign of Alexander. 
It was reassumed in France in 1853, by Napoleon III. 

The learned have been divided on the exact meaning of the 
word Imperator , from which we have derived Emperor; some 
asserting it merely implied Conqueror, and cite that Cicero was 
saluted Imperator on his return from his proconsulate. Others 
affirm it to be only a title of sovereignty. Both are right in their 
affirmation, and wrong in their negation. Imperator hath both 
these meanings, as is evident from the inscription on a medal 
struck during the reign of Augustus— imp. clesar. divi. x. 
Augustus imp. xx. Its precise meaning may also be ascertained 
by its position in the phrase. When it means sovereignty, it 
precedes all names and titles, or, in other words, begins the 
phrase; when, on the contrary, it designates victories obtained, 
it is placed after the name, and generally after every other title, 
as in the instance above cited. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


141 


BOURBONS AS KINGS OF SPAIN. 

The first Bourbon who ascended the throne of Spain was Philip 
IV., grandson of Louis XIV., in the year 1713. The glorious 
wars of Queen Anne, as they are called, were in opposition to that 
succession, and although the Duke of Marlborough did not lose 
a single battle, yet the French carried their point; the party 
whose interest the English espoused, viz., the Emperor’s son, 
having died suddenly, which terminated the war. The celebrated 
peace of Utrecht, in the year 1713, followed the twelve years’ 
war, when the Bourbon succession to the Spanish monarchy was 
agreed to by this country. 

POPE, alias BISHOP OF ROME. 

The title of Pope is derived from an Oriental word signifying 
Father, and in earlier times applied indiscriminately to all bishops, 
and in the East even to ministers ; but for many centuries the 
term has been confined to the Bishop of Rome, who is also 
designated by Roman Catholics, as the Holy Father. The Supre¬ 
macy of the Roman bishop was unknown in the Christian Church 
for the first six centuries, although a 'primacy of order in the 
Western Church was conceded to that see from early times, 
arising from its apostolical origin, and from the temporal dignity 
of the city of Rome. Its later prelates, however, have perverted 
many human institutions into articles of faith; and the pre-emi¬ 
nence assigned to the “ Chair of St. Peter,” unconnected as it was 
with any thing except the temporal government of the empire, be¬ 
came the origin and source of the vast dominion which the Popes 
afterwards assumed over the other churches of Christendom. 

KING OF THE ROMANS. 

It will be remembered the son of Napoleon was styled King of 
Rome, and which title originated from that of King of the Romans. 
The Emperors of Germany, to bring in their sons as their suc¬ 
cessors, politically got them elected King of the Romans, which 
w as a part of the sovereignty. To get his son elected King of the 
Romans, the Emperor Charles IV. gave each Elector 100,000 
ducats, and w T as forced to mortgage several cities to raise the 
money, 1376; the descendants of the mortgages continue still in 
possession of them.—There were then only seven Electors, they 
being reduced to that number in 999. 

IIORATII AND CURIATII. 

The Romans and Albans, contesting for superiority, agreed to 
choose three champions on each side to decide it. The three 


142 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Horatii, Roman knights, and the three Curiatii, Albans, being 
elected by their respective countries engaged, in which the Horatii 
were victors, and which united Alba to Rome, 667 b.c. 

AMBASSADOR. 

The word ambassador is of very uncertain derivation, but is 
supposed to be derived from the Italian word ambasciare , to 
solicit. An ambassador is not only the agent of the country which 
sends him, but also represents personally the dignity of its 
sovereign. The greater powers of Europe send ambassadors to 
each other with the exception of Prussia, which never employs 
ministers of this Class. 

THE TITLE CARDINAL. 

The Cardinals were originally nothing more than deacons, to 
whom was intrusted the care of distributing the alms to the poor 
of the several quarters of Rome ; and as they held assemblies of 
the poor in certain churches of their several districts, they took 
the title of these churches. Thus two of the minor canons of St. 
Paul’s, London, are still called cardinals of the choir , whose duties 
are to preserve order in Divine service, administer the Eucharist, 
and officiate at funerals. They began to be called Cardinals in 
the year 300, during the pontificate of St. Sylvester, by which appel¬ 
lation was meant the chief priests of a parish, and next in dignity 
to a bishop. This office grew more considerable afterwards, and 
by small degrees arrived at its present height; in which it is the 
reward of such as have served his Holiness well—even Princes 
thinking it no diminution of their honour to become members of 
the college of Cardinals. 

The Cardinals compose the Pope’s council, and till the time of 
Urban VIII., were styled Most Illustrious; but by a decree of that 
Pope in 1630, they had the title of Eminence conferred upon them. 
The privileges of the Cardinals are very great—they have an abso¬ 
lute power in the church during the vacancy in the Holy See— 
they have a right to elect a new Pope, and are the only persons 
on whom the choice can fall; most of the grand offices in the 
court of Rome are filled by Cardinals. The dress of a Cardinal is 
a red soutanne, a rocket, a short purple mantle, and the red hat. 
When they are sent to the Courts of Princes, it is in quality of le¬ 
gates a latere; and when they are appointed Governors of towns, 
their government is called by the name of Legation. The Cardi¬ 
nals are divided into six classes or orders; consisting of six bishops, 
fifty priests, and fourteen deacons, making in all seventy, which 
constitute the sacred college. 

DIEU ET MON DROIT. 

The motto of the Royal Family of England. It was first assum¬ 
ed by Richard I., to intimate that he held his sovereignty from 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


143 


God alone. It seems to have been dropt among the immediate 
successors of that Prince, but it was revived by Edward III. when 
he first claimed the crown of France. Since which time, except 
in the reign of Elizabeth, William II., and Anne it has always 
formed the Eoyal motto of England. 

DEFENSOR FIDEI. 

Defensor Fidei , or Defender of the Faith, was given to Henry 
VIII. by Pope Leo X., for the ability and zeal that he manifested 
in his writings in support of the Roman Catholic Church. When, 
at the Reformation, Henry suppressed all the Monasteries and 
Convents in England, the Pope deprived him of his title ; but in 
the thirty-fifth year of his reign it was confirmed by Parliament, 
and it has been since constantly assumed by the sovereigns of 
England. Henry VIII., however, was not the first sovereign 
who assumed the title; for Mr. Luders, in a learned article of the 
Archceologia , vol. xix. part i., has traced the title up to Richard 
II. It simply expresses the sovereign’s determination to sup¬ 
port the Christian faith, at a time when a great part of Europe 
consisted of heathens. Hence it was suitably adopted by Charle¬ 
magne, a.d. 769, who styled himself, “ Devotum Sanctce Ecclesice 
Defensorum 

MOST CHRISTIAN KING. 

The origin of this title of the Kings of France, as well as the 
“ eldest son of the church,” takes its data from Clovis, who was 
the first king of the Franks that professed Christianity. 

CAESAR, OR CZAR. 

The title Caesar, in Roman antiquity, was borne by all the 
Emperors from Julius Caesar to the destruction of the empire. 
It was also used as a title of distinction for the intended or pre¬ 
sumptive heir of the empire, as King of the Romans is now used 
for that of the German empire. 

The title took its rise from the sirname of the first emperor, 
C. Julius Caesar, which, by a decree of the Senate, all the suc¬ 
ceeding emperors were to bear. Under his successor, the appel¬ 
lation of Augustus being appropriated to the emperors in com¬ 
pliment to that prince, the title Caesar was given to the second 
person in the empire, though it still continued to be given to the 
first; and hence the difference between Caesar used simply, and 
Caesar with the addition of Imperator Augustus. The dignity 
of Caesar remained second in the empire, till Alexius Commenus, 
having elected Nicephorus Melissenus Caesar by contract, and it 
being necessary to confer some higher dignity on his own bro¬ 
ther Isaacius, he created him Sebastocrator, with the precedency 
over Melissenus; ordering, that in all acclamations, &c., Isaacius 


144 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


I 


Sebastocrator should be named tlie second, and Melissenus Ciesar 
the third. 

Czar, in the Russian language, means Caesar, and it is a title 
assumed by the great Dukes, or as they are now styled Emperors 
of Russia. Beckmann makes no doubt but they took this title by 
corruption from Caesar—Emperor; and accordingly they bear 
an eagle as the symbol of their empire, and the word Caesar in 
their arms; yet they make a distinction between Czar and Caesar, 
the first being taken for the King’s name, and the other for the 
Emperor’s.—The first that bore this title was Basil, the son of 
Basilides, under whom the Russian power began to appear about 
1470. 

DAUPHIN OF FRANCE. 

In the times of the feudal system, the kingdom of France was 
divided into many petty sovereignties, as the empire of Germany 
is at present. Humbert, or Hubert II., the Count of Daupliiny, 
married in 1332 Mary de Baux, who was allied to the house of 
France, and by her he had an only son. One day, it is said, 
being playing with this child at Lyons he let him accidentally 
fall into the Rhone, in which he was drowned. From that fatal 
period, he was a prey to all the horrors of grief; and feeling, 
moreover, a deep resentment for the affronts he had received from 
the house of Savoy, he resolved to give his dominions to that of 
France. This cession, made in 1343, to Philip of Yalois, was 
confirmed in 1349, on condition that the eldest sons of the kings 
of France should bear the title of Dauphin. Philip, in gratitude 
for a cession which thus united Daupliiny to the Crown, gave the 
donor 40,000 crown pieces of gold, and a pension of 10,000 livres. 
Humbert next entered among the Dominicans, and on Christ¬ 
mas day, 1351, received the sacred orders from the hands of Pope 
Clement VI., who created him patriarch of Alexandria, and gave 
him the administration of the archbishopric of Rlieims. Hum¬ 
bert passed the remainder of his days in tranquillity, and in the 
exercises of piety, and died at the age of 43, at Clermont, in the 
province of Auvergne. 

DUKE OF CLARENCE. 

The origin of this title is possibly but little known. Clarentia , 
or Clarence , once a country village in Suffolk, has long been 
celebrated for the great men who have borne the titles of earls, 
or dukes of it, and possessed formerly a castle of great strength 
and considerable extent. There was an interregnum in the title 
from George, Edward the Fourth’s brother, who was drowned 
in the butt of Malmsey, until its revival in the late possessor. 
The surname of Clarencieux , adopted by the second king at arms, 
arises also from its having formerly appertained to the dukes of 
Clarence. 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


145 


ROYAL TITLES. 

The following is the succession in which the royal titles swelled 
in England; Henry IV. had the title of Grace conferred on him; 
Henry VI. that of Excellent Grace; Edward IV. that of High 
and Mighty Prince; Henry VII. Highness ; Henry VIII. Ma¬ 
jesty (and was the first that was styled Dread Sovereign); 
and James I. that of Sacred, or Most Excellent Majesty. That 
of Majesty was first given to Louis XI. of France; before, it was 
the title only of Emperors. The kings of Arragon, Castile, and 
Portugal, had the title only of Highness; those of England, Your 
Grace; those of France, Your Despotism. 

BLACK PRINCE. 

From this time (Crecy), says a writer,* the French began to 
call the youDg Prince of Wales, Le Noir , or the Black; and in a 
record, 2 Richard II. n. 12, he is called the Black Prince. Yet 
this title does not appear to have originated, as generally sup¬ 
posed, from his wearing black armour, nor indeed is there any 
thing to show he ever wore such at all. t When, however, he 
attended at tournaments in France or England, he appeared in a 
surcoat with a shield, and his horse in a caparison, all black, with 
white feathers on them, so that it must have been from the cover¬ 
ing of his armour that he was so called. Yet in the field of battle, 
and on all other occasions, his surcoat or guipon was emblazoned 
with the arms of England labelled. The terrible effort of his 
prowess seems to have given another meaning to his epithet; for 
Froissart having described the battle of Poictiers in 1356, adds 
“ Thus did Edward the Black Prince, now doubly dyed black by 
the terror of his arms.” 

ICH DIEN.—“I SERVE.*’ 

The motto of the Prince of Wales, which was originally adopted 
by Edward the Black Prince in proof of his subjection to his 
Father Edward III., and has been continued without interruption 
down to the present time. Sir H. Nicolas, in the Archceologia , 
vol. xxxi. p. 372, expresses his belief that both the Prince of 
Wales feathers, and the mottoes “ Ich Dien” and “ Houmont,” 
were derived from the House of Hainault, possibly from the 

* Quarterly Review. 

f In the painting of him, discovered on the wall of St Stephen's Chapel, 
his armour is gilt; and yet Eustace and Mercoeur are there represented in 
black armour. Thus, in the initial letter of this reign, which is taken 
from the original one of the grant of the Duchy of Acquitaine by Edward 
III. to the Black Prince, the King appears on a throne of marble, orna¬ 
mented with a frame of gilt; but both his armour and that of his son 
are steel, with gilt knee and elbow caps.—Grant is in the Cottonian 
Library, marked .Nero DY1I. 

L 



146 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Comte of Ostrevant, which formed the appanage of the eldest 
sons of the Counts of that province. 

SEMPER EADEM. 

Semper Eadem, i. e., “ always the same,” was first used as the 
motto of the arms of England, Dec. 13tli, 1702. 

BISHOP OF OSNABURG. 

The bishopric of Osnaburg was founded by Charlemagne, and 
was filled by various princes until 1625, when Cardinal Francis 
William, Count of Wurtemberg, was elected by the chapter. It 
was held by the late Duke of York, and is an alternative between 
the Roman Catholics and Protestants, made so at the treaty of 
Westphalia, in 1648. On that occasion, the house of Brunswick 
made some great sacrifices for the sake of a general peace, in 
consideration of which the See of Osnaburgh was given, to be 
held alternately by the Brunswick family, and others of the 
German empire. But, although this bishopric is alternately 
hereditary in our royal family, it is not so with regard to its 
Roman Catholic bishops ; for they are chosen out of different 
families by a chapter of 25 canons. When they have a popish 
bishop, he is a suffragan to the archbishop of Cologne ; but the 
Protestant bishop, who is a temporal prince indeed, has little to 
demonstrate him an ecclesiastic but the title. The bishopric is 
45 miles long, and 25 broad, and is in one of the fruitf'ulest parts 
of Westphalia. 

DUKE OF CORNWALL. 

In a parliament held in 1337, king Edward III. created Prince 
Edward, his eldest son, Duke of Cornwall, being the first in 
England that bore the title of duke. He was vested with the 
dukedom by a wreath on his head, a ring on his finger, and a 
silver verge in his hand ; since which time, the eldest son of the 
king of England is born duke of Cornwall; the title of prince of 
Wales being given some days after. 

ALDERMAN. 

Formerly one of the three degrees of nobility among the 
Saxons. Athelm was the first, Thane the lowest, and Alderman 
the same as earl among the Danes, and answering to our earl or 
count at present. It was also used in the time of king Edgar for 
a judge or justice ; in which sense Alwin is called aldermannus 
totius Anglice. But now aldermen are associates to the chief civil 
magistrates of a city, or town corporate. The number of these 
magistrates is not limited, but more or less according to the 


V 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


147 


magnitude of the place. Those of London were first appointed 
in V242, and are twenty-six in number, each having one of the 
wards of the city committed to his care. Their office is for life ; 
so that when one of them dies, or resigns, a wardmote is called' 
who return two persons, one of whom the lord mayor and aider- 
men choose to supply the vacancy.* By the charter of the city 
of London, all the aldermen who have been lord mayors, together 
with the three eldest ones not arrived at that dignity, are justices 
of the peace. J 

SHERIFF. 

The title sheriff is a corruption from Shire Reeve, from the 
Saxon, meaning the Beeve or Governor of the Shire. He is the 
chief civil officer in each county, and is entrusted with the 
execution of the laws and the preservation of the peace, for 
which purpose he has at his disposal the whole civil force of the 
county. He is a kind of superior constable, through whom all 
writs are issued. 

LORD MAYOR. 

Mayor, formerly major, i. e., the first or senior Alderman. 
The Lord Mayor of London, as the chief magistrate is called, is, 
properly speaking, only Mayor of London and Lord of Finsbury. 
This latter title was conferred, on the gift of the manor of 
Finsbury, by Bichard II., in consequence of Sir William Wal¬ 
worth (then mayor of London) killing Wat Tyler in Smithfield. 

SECRETARY OF STATE. 

This office is comparatively modern in point of importance. 
There was only one until the reign of Henry VIII., who added 
another. Queen Anne appointed one for Scotch affairs, but this 
office was not of long duration: one for the American departments 
was appointed by George III., but abolished in 1782. At present 
there are three Secretaries of State. 1. The Secretary for the 
Home Department. 2. The Colonial Secretary. 3. The Secretary 
for Foreign Affairs. 

TELLER OF THE EXCHEQUER. 

The mode of keeping accounts by tallies, or cleft pieces of 
wood, in which the notches are cut upon one piece conformable 
to the other, one kept by the creditor, and the other with the 
debtor, is still practised in many places of Britain. A tally con¬ 
tinues to be given by the Exchequer to those who pay money 
there upon loans; hence the origin of the Teller of the Exchequer, 
one who tells or numbers up the notches, and also of the phrase, 
to tally, to fit, to suit, or to answer exactly. 

* This is not the case now, each ward returning its own Alderman. 



148 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


POET LAUREATE. 

This appendage to the court was formerly called the King’s 
Versifier, and may be traced as far back as 1251, at which period 
his stipend was 100 shillings per annum. In the History of Eng¬ 
lish Poetry, Mr.Warton observes, that in the reign of Edward IV., 
the first mention is made of the more dignified appellation of 
Laureate, which was originally bestowed on John Kay. This 
ingenious, writer is of opinion, the title arose from the degrees 
taken in the University of Oxford, on which occasion a wreath 
of laurel was presented to the new graduate, who was styled 
Poeta Laureatus. 


KING’S COCK-CROWER ! 

This officer, which was formerly about the court, was as useful 
as the master of the hawks. The cock-crosver’s business was to 
go the rounds as a watchman does, and to crow like a cock; but 
on the accession of George III. the cock ceased to crow, his 
majesty thinking the custom more honoured in the breach than 
the observance. 

LORD WARDEN OF THE CINQUE PORTS. 

The Cinque Ports were originally as follows, viz.:—Dover, 
Sandwich, Hastings, Hythe, and Romney; but three more were 
afterwards added, viz., Wincheisea, Rye, and Seaford. The Con¬ 
stable of Dover Castle was created Warden of the Cinque Ports 
by William the Conqueror. The Lord Warden has the authority 
of Admiral in the Cinque Ports and their dependencies, with 
power to hold a Court of Admiralty, and Courts of Law and 
Equity. 

BELLMAN. 

This officer was first appointed in London, 1556. They were 
to ring their bells at night, and cry, “ Take care of your fire and 
candle, be charitable to the poor, and pray for the dead.” 

JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 

The Emperor Julian was denominated the Apostate, from 
having professed Christianity before he ascended the throne, and 
afterwards relapsing to Paganism. He died in the 32nd year of 
his age, in a battle with the Persians. 

KNIGHTHOOD. 

The order of knighthood in ancient times added a lustre to 
the highest degree of nobility, and was esteemed even by kings 
and princes themselves. The ceremony of creating a knight was 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


149 


generally performed in the Royal palace, and robes of different 
colours were given to the intended objects of that Royal mark 
of distinction. Among the Close Rolls is a writ from Henry III. 
to the Sheriff of Southampton, ordering him to allow Thomas 
Esturmy, his Majesty’s valet, a scarlet robe with a cloak of fine 
linen, and another robe of green or brown, and a saddle and a 
pair of reins, and a cloak for wet weather, and a couch and a pair 
of linen sheets, it being usual for the person who was to be 
knighted, to watch all the previous night in the church, and the 
couch was given him to rest on. 

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 

The Knights Templars were an order of knights instituted by 
Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, about the year 1100, for the defence 
of that city and the temple, as well as of the pilgrims that tra¬ 
velled thither; and were afterwards dispersed through all the 
kingdoms of Christendom. They were enriched by vast dona¬ 
tions of the superstitious world, having no less than sixteen 
thousand lordships, besides other lands, conferred upon them; 
and neglecting to observe the first institution of their order, and 
being charged with the most detested crimes, particularly sodomy, 
and denying our Saviour—all the princes of Europe, with the 
concurrence of the Pope, agreed to imprison their persons, and 
seize all their lands and effects at once, and abolish their order, 
their revenues being afterwards transferred to the Knights’ Hos¬ 
pitallers; but whether their immense riches, and their insolent 
behaviour, were not the grand motives for suppressing this order, 
is much doubted; for none of the crimes they were charged with, 
were proved against the English Templars, and the confessions 
of those in France were extorted by torture. The English Tem¬ 
plars were only sent into other monasteries. Their principal 
residence in England was the Temple in Fleet-Street, London; 
where, in the church there, lie the remains, marked out by their 
effigies, numbers of these once domineering crusading heroes. 
They were abolished by Pope Clement I. 

KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS. 

These Knights, to whom were assigned the estates of the 
Knights Templars, derive their appellation from dedicating their 
services to the sick and wounded Christian soldiers in the holy 
wars; hence they were called Hospitallers, or Knights of St. 
John of Jerusalem. Like the Templars, their principal estates 
and residence were in England. 

Jerusalem Square, with St. John of Jerusalem’s Gate, derive 
their cognomens from these Knights Hospitallers, who had their 
headquarters in this part of Clerkenwell. They had also a 


150 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


church here, which Stow notices in his Survey of London. They 
were suppressed by Henry VIII., 1540. 

ORDER OF THE BATH. 

The antiquity of this order is very great, as it was derived 
from the ancient Franks by the Saxons, who, with other customs, 
introduced it into England. When the Franks conferred knight¬ 
hood, they observed, among other solemn rites, that of bathing 
before they performed their vigils; which rites continued to be 
practised in England, and from thence were termed Knights of 
the Bath. The first of this order, under the express appellation, 
was instituted by Henry IV., on the 13th of October, 1399. 

ORDER OF THE THISTLE. 

This order was founded in 1540 by James V. of Scotland, who, 
being honoured with the Order of the Garter from his uncle, 
King Henry VIII. of England, with the Golden Fleece from the 
Emperor, and the Order of St. Michael from the King of France, 
resolved to be in the royal mode, and so made this order for him¬ 
self and twelve knights, in imitation of Christ and his twelve 
apostles. Then celebrating all the festivals of these orders, he 
set up their arms and badges over the gate of his palace at Lin¬ 
lithgow, joining St. Andrew with them. 

ORDER OF ST. ANDREW. 

Some Scotch writers, very fond of antiquity, not satisfied with 
the novelty of this institution, affect to call it the most ancient, 
as to its derivation. But for this they have no better warrant 
than the dream of king Hungus, the Piet, to whom St. Andrew 
making a midnight visit, promised him a sure victory over his 
foes, the Northumbrians ; and the next day, St. Andrew’s cross 
appearing in the air, he made his words good, and the Northum¬ 
brians were defeated. On this story, as they say, king Achaius, 
about the year 800, framed the Order of St. Andrew, 700 years 
before James V. revived it. He also appointed the knights to 
wear the image of St. Andrew upon a blue ribbon, which con¬ 
tinued till queen Anne changed it to green. 

ORDER OF THE GARTER. 

Instituted by Edward III. in the year 1350. Some say on ac¬ 
count of good success in a skirmish, wherein the king’s garter 
was used for a token ; others say that the king, after his great 
success, dancing one night with his queen and other ladies, took 
up a garter which one of them dropped, whereat some of the 
lords smiling, the king called out, lloni soit qui mat y pense —- 
Evil to him that evil thinks ; and said, that ere long he would 
make that garter of high reputation ; and shortly after he insti¬ 
tuted the order, in memorial of this event, and gave these words 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


151 


as the motto of the order. This origin, though frivolous, says 
Hume, is not unsuitable to the manners of the times ; and it is 
indeed difficult by any other means to account either for the 
seemingly unmeaning terms of the motto, or for the peculiar badge 
of the garter, which seems to have no reference to any purpose 
either of military use or ornament. The probability is, that in 
order to promote the spirit of emulation and obedience, the king 
instituted the order of the garter, in imitation of some orders of 
a like nature, religious as well as military, which had been estab¬ 
lished in different parts of Europe. The number received into 
this order consisted of twenty-five persons, besides the sovereign. 
Ladies were members of the fraternity as late as the reign of 
Edward IY. When queen Anne attended the thanksgiving at 
St. Paul’s in 1702, and again in 1704, she wore the garter set. 
with diamonds, as Sovereign of the order, tied round her left arm, 
and this precedent has been since followed. 

COLLAR OF S S. 

This collar, which is worn on certain occasions by the judges of 
the present day, is derived from Saints Simplicius and Faustinas, 
two Roman senators, who suffered martyrdom under JDioclesian. 
The religious society or confraternity of St. Simplicius wore silver 
collars of double S S ; between which the collar contained twelve 
small pieces of silver, on which were engraven the twelve articles 
of the creed, together with a simple trefoil. The image of St. 
Simplicius hung at the collar, and from it seven plates, represent¬ 
ing the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. This chain, or collar, was 
worn because these two brethren were martyred by a stone with 
a chain about their necks, and thus thrown into the Tiber. Sir 
John Fern says, that collars in the 15th century were worn as 
ensigns of rank, of which the fashions ascertained the degrees. 
They were usually formed of S S, having in the front centre a 
rose, or other device, and were made of gold or silver, according 
to the bearer. He says, that knights only wore collars of S S ; 
but this is a mistake. At the marriage of Prince Arthur, son of 
Henry VII., in 1507, Sir Nicholas Vaux wore a collar of Esses, 
which weighed, as the goldsmiths that made it reported, 800 
pound of nobles.* The collar worn by the judges is still a collar 
of S S divested of certain appendages.—See Notes and Queries , 
vol. iv. passim. 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF CROWNS. 

In Scripture there is frequent mention of crowns, and the use 
of them seems to have been very common among the Hebrews. 
The high priest wore a crown, which was a ffilet of gold placed 

* See Geld Coin. 


152 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


upon the forehead, and tied with a ribbon of hyacinth colour, 
or azure blue. It seems also as if private priests, and even com¬ 
mon Israelites, wore a sort of crown, since God commands Ezekiel 
“ not to take off his crown, nor assume the marks of one in mourn¬ 
ing.” This crown was no more than a ribbon or fillet, with which 
the Jews and several people in the East girt their heads ; and 
indeed the first crowns were no more than a bandalet drawn 
round the head, and tied behind, and we still see it represented 
round the heads of Jupiter, the Ptolemies, and kings of Syria. 
The more luxuriant crowns originated with the Roman emperors, 
who had four kinds, still seen on medals, viz., a crown of laurel, 
a radial or radiating crown, a crown adorned with pearls and 
precious stones, and the fourth a kind of bonnet or cap, something 
like the mortier. 

In modern heraldry we have the following order and descrip¬ 
tion of the various crowns now in use :— 

The Imperial crown is a bonnet or tiara, with a semicircle of 
gold supporting a globe with a cross top. 

The British crown is adorned with four crosses, between 
which are four fleur-de-lis, which is the crest of France ; it is 
covered with four diadems, which meet at a little globe support¬ 
ing a cross. 

The French crown is a circle of eight fleur-de-lis, encompassed 
with six diadems, bearing at top double fleur-de-lis as the crest. 

The Spanish crown is adorned with large indent leaves, and 
covered with diadems terminating in a globe, surrounded with 
a cross. 

The crowns of almost all other kings are adorned with large 
leaves, bordered with four, six, or eight diadems, with a globe and 
cross at top. 

The Prince of Wales’s crown consists alternately of crosses and 
fleur-de-lis, with one arch, in the middle of which is a ball and 
cross, as in the royal diadem. 

That of all the other sons and brothers of the king of England 
consist likewise ^f crosses and fleur-de-lis alternately, but 
without an arch, or being surmounted with a globe and cross 
at top. 

That of the other Princes of the blood consists alternately of 
crosses and leaves, like those in the coronet of Dukes, &c., the 
latter being composed of leaves of smallage or parsley, and that 
of a Marquis, of flowers and pearls placed alternately ; an Eai l’s 
has no flowers about the circle like a Duke and Marquis, but only 
points rising, and a pearl on every one of them ; a Viscount has 
neither flowers nor points raised above the circle like the other 
superior degrees, but only pearls placed on the circle itself, with¬ 
out any limited number; a Baron’s has only six pearls on the 
golden border, not raised, to distinguish him from the Earl, and 
the number of them limited, to show he is inferior to the Viscount. 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


153 


THE SCEPTRE. 

The sceptre is of greater antiquity than the crown. The Greek 
tragic poets put sceptres into the hands of the most ancient kings 
they ever introduce; thus, Achilles is said to have sworn by his 
staff or sceptre in the first Book of the Iliad. 

Among the Romans, the sceptre was first used by Tarquin the 
Elder. We are informed by Le Gendre, that the sceptre borne 
by the first race of the French kings was a golden rod, crooked 
at one end like a crosier,* used by the bishops of the church, 
and almost of the same height as the king himself. This pas¬ 
toral staff' or crosier, is held by the bishops in one hand when 
they give the solemn benediction. The custom also of having 
the symbol of pastoral authority before the bishops is very 
ancient. Regular abbots are also allowed to officiate with a mitre 
and crosier, except in regard to the Greeks, where none but a 
patriarch had a right to the crosier. The sceptre is likewise 
prominent in the regalia, or ensigns of royalty, used for the 
apparatus of a coronation, as the crown, tlie sceptre with a cross, 
that with a dove, St. Edward’s staff', the globe, and the orb with 
the cross, four several swords, &c. 

ORIGIN OF CORONATIONS IN ENGLAND, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR 

CUSTOMS. 

The first coronation ceremony performed in England, was that 
of Edmund Ironsides, 1016. Chronology likewise informs us, 
that the first sermon preached at any coronation was that of 
Edward the Confessor, in 1041; and the first who is stated to 
have been touched for the king’s evil in 1058. 

The first king’s speech said to be delivered was that of Henry I., 
1107; but it is not a little singular, that the first coronation feast 
in England is observed to be that which was given on the crowning 
of Edward I., 1273. 

The oath taken at the coronation of Hugues Capet is recorded 
as follows:—“ I, Hugues Capet, who by the grace of God will 
soon be made king of the French, promise, on the day of my sacre 
(consecration), that I will distribute justice according to the laws 
of the people committed to my charge.” 

Henry IV. was anointed 27th February, 1594, at Chartres. 
He made his abjurationf on the 25th July preceding, at St. 
Denis. On the day of his sacre , says Sully, the liguers ran in 
crowds to see him ; they were delighted by his noble appearance ; 
they raised their hands to Heaven, dropping tears of joy, and 
they exclaimed in ecstasy— Ha! Dieu le benie. 

At the coronation of the Emperors of China, it was customary 

* See Crosier. 

f Henry IV. of France abjured the Protestant religion. 


154 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


to present them with several sorts of marbles, and of different 
colours, by the hand of a mason, who was then to address the 
new emperor to this purpose— 

i 

Choose, mighty Sir, under which of these stones 

Your pleasure is that we should lay your bones. 

/ 1 

They brought him patterns for his gravestone, that the prospect 
of death might restrain his thoughts within due bounds of 
modesty and moderation in the midst of his new honours. 

The Dey of Algiers is elected from the army; and as the 
meanest person has the same right to sovereignty as the highest, 
every common soldier may be considered as heir-apparent to the 
throne. Every person, besides, has a right to vote on the elec¬ 
tion; and this being concluded, he is saluted with the word 
“ Alla Barek ! ” that is, God bless you, and immediately invested 
with the caftan, or insignia of royalty: the Cadi addressing him 
in a congratulatory speech, which concludes with an exhor¬ 
tation to the practice of justice, equity, and moderation. The 
Deys, after their exaltation, generally disdain the meanness of 
wishing to disguise their humble extraction; on the contrary, 
when Mahomet Baslia was in possession of that dignity, in a 
dispute with the deputy-consul of a neighbouring nation, he is 
said to have thus frankly acknowledged his origin—“My mother 
sold sheeps’ trotters, and my father neats’ tongues; but they 
would have been ashamed to have exposed to sale so worthless a 
tongue as thine.” 

^ The kings of Poland are crowned in the cathedral dedicated to 
Saint Stanislaus, a majestic structure in the city of Cracow, and 
where are preserved the relics of that saint, the ancient bishop 
and pati on of the nation; who being murdered in this church in 
the 11th century by Boleslaus the Bold, the kings and nobles 
walk in piocession to his shrine the day before the coronation, 
to expiate the crime; and several kings on these and other occa¬ 
sions have offered vessels of gold and silver at his tomb. 

In Turkey, the Mufti, as high priest and patriarch of the Ma¬ 
hometan religion, girds on the sword to the Grand Signior’s side, 
which ceremony answers to the coronation of our kings; and 
here, perhaps, it may not be amiss to observe, that the mines of 
Golconda, in tlic -East Indian empire, have, it is said, furnished 
the principal diamonds which adorn all the crowns in the world. 


THE CRESCENT AS A SYMBOL. 

The crescent was the symbol of the city of Byzantium, now 
Constantinople, which the Turks have adopted. This device of 
the Ottoman Empire is of great antiquity, as appears from several 
medals struck in honour of Augustus, Trajan, and others, and 
took its ] lse f 1 om an e\ ent related ky Stephens the geographer, 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


155 


a native of Byzantium. He tells us that Philip, the father of 
Alexander the Great, meeting with mighty difficulties in carrying 
on the siege of that city, set the workmen in a very dark night 
to undermine the walls, that his troops might enter the place 
without being perceived; but luckily for the besieged, the Moon 
appearing, discovered the design, which accordingly miscarried. 
“ In acknowledgment of this deliverance,” says he, “ the Byza.n- 
tiums erected a statue to Diana, and thus the crescent became 
their symbol.” Crescent has also been applied to three orders 
of knighthood: the first of which was instituted by Charles I., 
King of Naples and Sicily, in 1268; the second by Ken6 of 
Anjou, in 1448; and the third by the Sultan Selim, in 1801. The 
last-mentioned order is still in existence. 

MEDIATISED PRINCES. 

A Mediatised Prince is an unhappy victim of those Congresses, 
which, among other good and evil, purged with great effect the 
ancient German political system. By the regulations then deter¬ 
mined on, that country was freed at one fell swoop from the 
vexations and harassing dominion of the various petty princes 
who exercised absolute sovereignties over little nations of 50,000 
souls. These independent sovereigns became subjects; and 
either swelled, by their mediatisation, the territories of some 
already powerful potentate, or transmuted into a state of import¬ 
ance some more fortunate petty ruler than themselves ; whose 
independence, through the exertions of political intrigue, or 
family influence, had been preserved inviolate. In most instances, 
the concurrence of these little rulers in their worldly degradation 
was obtained by a lavish grant of official emoluments, or increase 
of territorial possessions,—and the mediatised prince, instead of 
being an impoverished and uninfluential sovereign, became a 
wealthy and powerful subject. But so dominant in the heart of 
man is the love of independent dominion, that even with these 
temptations few of the petty princes could have been induced to 
have parted with their cherished sceptres, had they not been 
conscious that, in case of contumacy, the resolutions of a diet 
would have been enforced by the armies of an emperor. As it 
is, few of them have yet given up the outward and visible signs 
of regal sway. The throne is still preserved, and the tiara still 
revered. They seldom frequent the courts of their sovereigns, 
and scarcely condescend to notice the attentions of their fellow 
nobility. Most of them expend their increased revenues in 
maintaining the splendour of their little courts at their ancient 
capitals, or in swelling the ranks of their retainers at their 
solitary forest castles. A greater number were mediatised after 
the dissolution of the German Empire in 1806, and a few more 
after the peace of 1815. 


156 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ROMAN NAMES, 

If you please to compare, says Camden, the Roman names, 
that seem so stately because you understand them not, you will 
disclaim them in respect of our meanest names. For what is 
Fronto, but beetle-browed ; Coesius, but cats’-eyes ; Paetus, but 
pink-eyed; Codes, one eye; Naso, bottle-nose, or rather nosey; 
Galla, maggot (as Suetonius interpreted); Silo, ape’s-nose; 
Ancus, crooked-arm; Pansa, broad-foot; Strabo, squint-eye; 
Suillius, swine-ear’d; Capeto, jobber-noil; Calvus, broad-pate; 
Crispus, curl-pate; Flaccus.loll-ears, or flag-eared; Labeo, blobber- 
lip; Scaurus, knobbed-heel; Varus, bowdegged; Pedo, long¬ 
shanks; Marcell us, hammer; Cilo, petty-long-pate; Cliilo, flat- 
lips. Those great names also, Fabius, Lentulus, Cicero, Piso, 
are no more in our tongue than bean-man, lentil, chick-peas, 
peascod-man; for, as Pliny saith, these names were first appro¬ 
priated to them for skill in sowing these grains. 


FITZ-ROY. 

This name, so generally borne by the illegitimate scions of 
royalty, was first given to a natural son of Henry the Second: it 
was considered a great honour at that period to have a sirname, 
as will appear by the following. In 1110, Henry II. matched one 
of his illegitimate sons to a rich heiress of Fitz-Aymon. The 
lady had a poetical turn; and when the king told her that his 
son’s name was Robert, she thus addressed him— 

“ It were to me a great shame, 

To have a lord without twa name.” 

On which Henry conferred on him the name of Fitz-roy, About 
this period, sirnames began to be used by people of rank in 
England. 


PLANTAGENET. 

The etymology of this name, which was borne by our English 
kings from Henry II. to Richard III. inclusive, is extremely 
uncertain. It is supposed to be derived from the two words 
planta genesta , or genista , that is, the plant broom , and first given 
to Fulke, Earl of Anjou, who lived a hundred years before the 
Conquest. He, having been guilty of some enormous crimes, was 
enjoined by way of penance to go to the Holy Land, and submit A 
to a severe castigation: he readily acquiesced, dressed himself in 
lowly attire, and, as a mark of humility, wore a piece of broom 
in his cap, of which virtue this plant is a symbol in the hieroglyphic 
language; and Virgil seems to confirm it, by calling it humilis 
genista, the humble broom. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


157 


This expiation finished, Fulke, in remembrance of it, adopted 
the title of Plantagenist, and lived many years in honour and 
happiness. His descendants accordingly inherited the name, and 
many successive nobles of the line of Anjou not only did the 
same, but even distinguished themselves by wearing a sprig of 
broom in their bonnets. 

STUART. 

The name of this truly unfortunate family was originally 
Steward, which was derived from the following circumstance. 
After the murder of Banquo, Fleance his son fled into Wales, 
where he thrived, and fell in love with the Welsh Prince’s 
daughter, by whom he had a son, named Walter. This Walter 
flying Wales for murder, was entertained in Scotland, and his 
descent once known, he was preferred to be Steward to king 
Edgar; from which office the name of Steward, but altered to 
Stuart, became the sirname of all his posterity. From this 
Walter descended Robert Steward, who was after, in right of 
his wife, king of Scotland. 


PERCY. 

It was the custom in the reign of William I., when a town or 
castle surrendered, for the principal person to bring and present 
to the conqueror the keys on the point of a spear; and IPolinshed 
says, that when Malcolm, king of Scotland, besieged the castle 
of Alnwick in 1092, and had reduced the garrison to the last 
necessity, a young knight, willing to take some hardy enter¬ 
prise in its defence, took a swift horse, and without armour or 
weapon, except a spear in his hand, on the point of which he bore 
the keys of the castle, rode into the camp of the enemy, who, 
supposing he came to surrender them, received him with joy, and 
unsuspected led him to the king. The knight then couched his 
spear, as if he intended with reverence to present him the keys; 
but, watching his opportunity, he urged on his horse, and ran the 
point into the eye of the king, killing him on the spot. That 
done, he clapped spurs to his horse, and by his swift flight saved 
his own life. From this circumstance originated the name of 
Pierce-eye , then Piercy, but now Percy. 

ALGERNON. 

During more than a hundred years, the Normans in England 
shaved their faces. W. de Percy (who accompanied Duke 
Robert in 1096 to Palestine) was styled on account of singularity 
as to this point, William Alsgernons, or William with the 
Whiskers. From this old French name springs Algernon, a 
favourite appellation in the noble family of Percy. 


158 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


CECIL. 

The true name, observes Aubrey, is Sitstilt, au ancient Mon¬ 
mouthshire family. ’Tis strange they should leave off an ancient 
British name for a Roman one, which I believe Mr. Verstegan did 
put into their heads, telling them they were derived from the 
Roman Cecilli. 


CHARLES MARTEL. 

Charles Martel, famed as the founder of the abbey of St. 
Denis, and as grandfather of Charlemagne, derived his sirname 
from the use of that death-dealing instrument, the Martel, which 
in the days of knighthood, says Dr. Meyrick in his Ancient 
Armour , was among the offensive arms of chivalry. 


JOHN OF GAUNT. 

John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, famed for his stature, 
strength, and prowess, son of Edward III. and brother to the Black 
Prince, was so called because he was born at Ghent in Flanders; 
Ghent is pronounced Gand, from whence came the corruption of 
Gaunt. 


FAMILY OF BOURBON. 

Henry Prince of Bearn, afterwards Henry IV., was born 13th 
Dec. 1553, and was the immediate heir to the crown of France, on 
the possible extinction of the house of Valois, in the person of the 
reigning monarch and his younger brothers, the dukes of Anjou 
and AlenQon. The latter died in 1584, and the former, Henry 
III., being assassinated in 1589, the Prince of Bearn then ascended 
the throne as Henry IV. This young prince was the son of 
Anthony de Bourbon, duke of Vendome, and Jane D Albert, 
queen of Navarre, who by this marriage gave the title of king to 
her husband. Anthony was descended from Robert, sixth son of 
St. Louis, the ninth of that name, and the ninth king of France 
from Hugh Capet, the first of the third race of the French 
monarchs. 

Robert, who was born in 1256, married Beatrice of Burgundy, 
the daughter of Agnes, heiress of the house of Bourbon ; in con¬ 
sequence, his son Louis took the name of Bourbon, and with that 
title was created duke and peer of France. 

As the sovereignties of France, Spain, and the two Sicilies, &c., 
are now in different branches of the house of Bourbon, and the 
former further secured by the coronation of Charles X., this 
account of the origin of that house may not, at this particular 
period, be thought superfluous. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


159 


BUONAPARTE, AND NAPOLEON. 

Among the many fabulous tales that have been published 
respecting the origin of the name of Bonaparte , there is one which, 
from its ingeniousness and romantic character, seems deserving 
of notice. It is said that the “ Man in the Iron Mask ” was no 
other than the twin (and elder) brother of Louis XIY.; that his 
keeper’s name was Bonpart; that that keeper had a daughter, 
with whom the Man in the Mask fell in love, and to whom he 
was privately married ; that their children received their mother’s 
name, and were secretly conveyed to Corsica, where the name 
was converted into Bonaparte or Buonaparte; and that one 
of those children was the ancestor of Napoleon Bonaparte, who 
was thus entitled to be recognised not only as of French origin, 
but as the direct descendant of the rightful heir to the throne of 
France. ! 

The Bonapartes are said to have adopted the name of Napoleon 
from Napoleon des Ursins, a distinguished character in Italian 
story, with one of whose descendants they became connected by 
marriage; and the first of the family to whom it was given was 
a brother of Joseph Bonaparte, the grandfather of Napoleon I. 
Many are the jeux de mots that have been made on this name ; 
but the following, which occurs in Literature Franqaise Contem- 
poraine, vol. ii. p. 266, is perhaps the most remarkable. 

The word Napoleon , being written in Greek characters, will 
form seven different words, by dropping the first letter of each in 
succession, namely, Ncinolecuv, A noMwv, PoXe<wv, OXssuv. Aeauv, Ea>v, Sly. 
These words make a complete sentence, and are thus translated 
into French: “Napoleon, etant le lion des peuples, allait detruisant 
les cites.”— Notes and Queries , vol. vii. 

THE ST. ALBAN’S FAMILY. 

The first ancestor of the St. Alban’s family was the eldest son of 
king Charles II. by Mrs. Eleanor Gwyn, better recollected under 
the°familiar appellation of Nell Gwyn. He was first created 
Earl of Burford by his royal sire, and afterwards Duke of St. 
Alban’s, and Grand Falconer of England. 

DUKE OF LEEDS. 

The ancestor, who laid the foundation of this noble family, was 
a young man named Osborne, who served his apprenticeship to 
Sir William Hewit, lord mayor of London in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth. Sir William lived on London Bridge, was a pinmaker, 
and his daughter, during Edward Osborne’s apprenticeship, 
accidentally fell from her father’s window into the Thames, and 


160 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Osborne plunged after the young lady, and saved her life at the 
risk of his own. This act much added to the favourable opinion 
which the master had for the apprentice, and as soon as the latter 
had served his time, Sir William Hewit said to him, “ Osborne, 
you are a deserving youth, and have faithfully served me for 
seven years. I am under considerable obligations to you; you 
have saved the life of my only daughter at the peril of your own. 
You have therefore the best claim to her; she is at your service 
if you choose to accept her in marriage, and the most considerable 
part of what I am possessed of shall hereafter be yours.” Osborne 
gladly accepted the generous offer, and the eldest son of that 
marriage was Hewit Osborne, who was knighted by the Earl of 
Essex, under whom he served in Ireland, for his services in the 
field. The family soon after became ennobled. Thomas Osborne, 
the first duke of Leeds, was prouder of the circumstance of his 
ancestor having acquired wealth and station by his honesty and 
intrepid spirit, than he was of any of the subsequent services of 
the family, and once related the circumstance with conscious pride 
to Charles II. 


WELLINGTON, OR WELLESLEY FAMILY. 

The family of Wellesley, formerly Wesley, assumed their name 
from Wells-Leigh, a hamlet near Wells. The D uke of Wellington 
of Wellington, in the county of Somerset, is Baron Douro of 
Wells-Leigh; and the Marquess Wellesley sits as an English 
peer, as Baron Wellesley of “ Wells-Leigli, in the county of Somer¬ 
set.” The late Duke selected the title of Wellington because 
that town is near the little village of Wensley, which bears a 
close resemblance in its name to that of Wesley, the old family 
name, since altered to Wellesley. 

ORIGIN OF VARIOUS NOBLE FAMILIES. 

The Marquis Cornwallis is lineally descended from Thomas 
Cornwallis, merchant, who was sheriff of London, 1378. 

The house of Wentworth was founded by S. W. Fitzwilliam, 
■who was an alderman of London, and sheriff in 1506; he was a 
retainer of Cardinal Wolsey, and knighted by Henry VIII. for 
his attachment to that prelate in misfortune. ITe built the greater 
part of the present church of Undershaft. 

The Earl of Coventry is descended from John Coventry, mercer 
and lord mayor in the year 1425; he was one of the executors of 
the celebrated Whittington. 

Laurence de Bouveries married the daughter of a silk-mercer 
at Frankfort on the Maine, and, settling in England, laid the 
foundation of the house of Radnor. 

The ancestor of the Earl of Essex was Sir William Capel, lord 
mayor of London in 1503. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


161 


The ancestor of the Earl of Dartmouth, Thomas Legge, or 
Legget, a skinner, was twice lord mayor, in 1347 and 1354, and 
lent King Edward III. no less a sum than ,£300 for his French 
war. 

Sir William Craven, merchant tailor and lord mayor of London, 
was ancestor to the present Earl Craven, 

The Earl of Warwick is lineally descended from William 
Greville, a citizen of London, and “ flower of the woolstaplers.” 

Thomas Bennet, mercer, sheriff in 1594, and lord mayor of 
London 1603, laid the foundation of the fortunes of the Earls of 
Tankerville, who are lineally descended from him. 

The ancestor of the Earls of Pomfret was Richard Fermour, 
who, having amassed a splendid fortune as a citizen in Calais, 
came to England, and suffered attaint under Henry VIII., and 
did not recover his property till the 4th of Edward VI. 

The Earl of Darnley owes the first elevation of his family to 
John Bligh, a London citizen, who was employed as agent to the 
speculations in the Irish estates forfeited in the rebellion in 1641. 

John Cowper, an alderman of Bridge Ward, and sheriff in 1551, 
was ancestor of Earl Cowper. 

The Earl of Romney is descended from Thomas Marsham, 
alderman, who died 1624. 

Lord Dacres’ ancestor, Sir Robert Dacres, was banker to 
Charles I., and although he lost £80,000 by that monarch, left a 
princely fortune to his descendants. 

Lord Dormer is descended from Sir Michael Dormer, lord 
mayor in 1541. 

Viscount Dudley and Ward’s ancestor was William Ward, a 
goldsmith in London, and jeweller to the consort of Charles I. 

Sir Rowland Hill, who was lord mayor in the reign of Edward 
VI., was ancestor of Lord Berwick, Lord Hill, and “ all the Hills 
in Shropshire ! ” 


LITERAL SIGNIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL MALE AND FEMALE 

CHRISTIAN NAMES; 

WITH THE LANGUAGES FROM WHICH THEY ARE DERIVED. 


Aaron, Hebrew, a mountain 
Abel, Heb. vanity 
Abraham, Heb. father of many 
Absalom, Heb. father’s peace 
Achilles, Greek, a freer from pain 
Adam, Heb. red earth 
Adolphus, Saxon, happiness and 
help 

Adrian, Latin, helper 
Alfege, Sax. always merry 
Alan, British, swift like a greyhound 
Albert, Sax. all bright 
Aldred, Sax. dread of all 


Alexander, Gr. a helper of men 
Alfred, Sax. all peace 
Alfric, German, all rich 
Alphonso, Gothic, our help 
Alwin, Sax. winning all 
Ambrose, Gr. immortal 
Amos, Heb. a burden 
Andrew, Gr. courageous 
Andronicus, Gr. a conqueror of men 
Anselm, Ger. a defender 
Anthony, Lat. flourishing 
Apelles, Gr. not black at all 
Archibald, Ger. a bold observer 

M 


% 



162 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Arnold, Ger. a maintainer of honour 
Arthur, Brit, a strong man 
Augustus, or Augustin, Lot. vene¬ 
rable, grand 

Baldwin, Ger. a bold winner 
Bardulph, Ger. a famous helper 
Barnaby, Heb. a prophet’s son 
Bartholomew, Heb. the son of him 
who made the waters to rise 
Basil, Gr. kindly 

Beaumont, French, a pretty mount 
Bede, Sax. prayer 
Beavis, Fr. fair to look upon 
Benjamin, Heb. the son of a right 
hand 

Bennet, Lat. blessed 
Bernard, Ger. bear’s heart 
Bertram, Ger. fail*, illustrious 
Blase, Gr. sprouting forth 
Bonaventure, Italian, good adven¬ 
ture 

Boniface, Lat. a well-doer 
Brian, Fr. having a thundering voice 
Cadwallader, Brit, valiant in war 
Caesar, Lat. adorned with hair 
Caleb, Heb. a dog 
Cecil, Lat. dim-sighted 
Charles, Ger. noble-spirited 
Christopher, Gr. bearing Christ 
Clement, Lat. mild-tempered 
Conrade, Ger. able counsel 
Constantine, Lat. resolute 
Crispin, Lat. having curled locks 
Cuthbert, Sax. known famously 
Daniel, Heb. God is judge 
David, Heb. well beloved. 
Demetrius, Gr. sprung from the 
earth 

Denis, Gr. belonging to the god of 
wine 

Dunstan, Sax. most high 
Edgar, Sax. happy honour 
Edmund, Sax. happy peace 
Edward, Sax. happy keeper 
Edwin, Sax. happy conqueror 
Egbert, Sax. ever bri ght 
Eleazer, Heb. the God of help 
Eldred, Sax. terrible 
Elijah, Heb. God, the Lord 
Elisha, Heb. the salvation of God 
Emmanuel, Heb. God with us 
Enoch, Heb. instructed or dedicated 
Ephraim, Heb. fruitful 
Erasmus, Gr. lovely, worthy to be 
loved 

Ernest, Gr. earnest, serious 
Esau, Heb. completed 


Ethelbad, Sax. nobly bold 
Ethelbert, Sax. nobly bright 
Ethelfred, Sax. noble peace 
Ethelfred, Sax. noble in counsel 
Ethelstan, Sax. a noble jewel 
Ethelwald, Sax. a noble keeper 
Ethelwold, Sax. a noble governor 
Evan or Ivon, Brit, the same as John 
Everard, Ger. well reported 
Eugene, Gr. nobly descended 
Eusebius, Gr. religious 
Eustace, Gr. standing firm 
Ezekiel, Heb. the strength of God 
Ezra, Heb. a helper 
Felix, Lat. happy 
Ferdinand, Ger. pure peace 
Fortunatus, Lat. happy 
Francis, Ger. free 
Frederic, Ger. rich peace 
Gabriel, Heb. the strength of God 
Geoffrey, Ger. joyful 
George, Gr. a husbandman 
Gerard, Sax. all towardliness 
German, Lat. a near kinsman 
Gervase, all sure 
Gideon, Heb. a breaker 
Gilbert, Sax. bright as gold 
Giles, Gr. a little goat 
Godard, Ger. a godly disposition 
Godfrey, Ger. God’s peace 
Godwin, Ger. victorious in God 
Griffith, Brit, having great faith 
Guy, Fr. the mistletoe shrub 
Hannibal, Punic, a gracious lord 
Harold, Sax. a champion 
Hector, Gr. a stout defender 
Henrv, Ger. a rich lord 
Herbert, Ger. a bright lord 
Hercules, Gr. the glory of Hera or 
Juno 

Hezekiah, Heb. cleaving to the Lord 
Hilary, Lat. merry, cheerful 
Horatio, Ital. worthy to be beheld 
Howel, Brit, sound, or whole 
Hubert, Ger. a bright colour 
Hugh, Dutch, high, lofty 
Humphrey, Ger. domestic peace 
Jacob, Ileb. a supplanter 
James or Jacques, beguiling 
Ingram, Ger. of angelic purity 
Joab, Heb. fatherhood. 

Job, Heb. sorrowing 

Joel, Heb. acquiescing 

John, Heb. the grace of the Lord 

Jonah, Heb. a dove 

Jonathan, Heb. the gift of the Lord 

Joscelin, Ger. just 











THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


1G3 


Joseph, Heb. addition 
Josias, Heb. the fire of the Lord 
Joshua, Heb. a Saviour 
Isaac, Heb. laughter 
Israel, Heb. prevailing with God 
Judah, Heb. confession 
Kenard, Sax. of a kind nature 
Kenelm, Sax. a defence of his kin¬ 
dred 

Lambert, Sax. a fair lamb 
Lancelot, Spanish, a little lance 
Laurence, Lat. crowned with laurel 
Lazarus, Heb. destitute of help 
Leonard, Ger. like a lion 
Leopold, Ger. defending the people 
Lewellin, Brit, like a lion 
Lewis, Fr. the defender of the people 
Lionel, Lat. a little lion 
LodoAvic, Sax. the defence of the 
people 

Lucius, Lat. shining 
Luke, Gr. a Avood or grove 
Malachi, Heb. my messenger 
Mark, Lat. a hammer 
Marmaduke, Ger. a mighty duke or 
lord 

Martin, Lat. martial 
MattheAv, Heb. a gift or present 
Maurice, Lat. sprung of a Moor 
Meredith, Brit, the roaring of the 
sea 

Michael, Heb. who is like God? 
Morgan, Brit, a mariner 
Moses, Heb. drawn out 
Narcissus, Gr. a daffodil 
Nathaniel, Heb. the gift of God 
Neal, Fr. somewhat black 
Nicholas, Gr. victorious over the 
people 

Noel, Fr. belonging to one’s nativity 
Norman, Fr. one born in Normandy 
Obadiah, Heb. the servant of the 
Lord 

Oliver, Lat. an olive 
Orlando, Ital. counsel for the land 
Osmund, Sax. house peace 
Oswald, Sax. ruler of a house 
Owen, Brit, well descended 
Patrick, Lat. a nobleman 
Paul, Lat. small, little 
Percival, Fr. a place in France 
Peregrine, Lat. outlandish 
Peter, Gr. a rock or stone 
Philemon, Gr. saluting 
Philip, Gr. a lover of horses 
Phineas, Heb. of bold countenance 
Ptolemy, Gr. mighty in war 


Quintin, Lat. belonging to five 
Ralph, contracted from Randolph, 
or Randal or Randulph, Sax. pure 
help 

Raymund, Ger. quiet peace 
Reuben, Heb. the son of vision 
Reynold, Ger. a lover of purity 
Richard, Sax. powerful 
Robert, Ger. famous in counsel 
Roger, Ger. strong counsel 
Rowland, Ger. counsel for the land 
Rufus, Lat. reddish 
Solomon, Heb. peaceable 
Samson, Heb. a little son 
Samuel, Heb. heard by God 
Saul, Heb. desired 
Sebastian, Gr. to be reverenced 
Simeon, Heb. hearing 
Simon, Heb. obedient 
Stephen, Gr. a crown or garland 
SAvithin, Sax. very high 
Thaddeus, Syriac, a breast 
Theobald, Sax. bold over the people 
Theodore, Gr. the gift of God 
Theodosius, Gr. given of God 
Theophilus, Gr. a lover of God 
Thomas, Lleb. a tAvin 
Thurstan, Ger. faithful 
Timothy, Gr. a fearer of God 
Toby or Tobias, Heb. the goodness 
of the Lord 

Tristram, Lat. sorrowful 
Valentine, Lat. powerful 
Vincent, Lat. conquering 
Vivian, Lat. living 
Urbane, Lat. courteous 
Walter, Ger. a wood master 
Walwin, Ger. a conqueror 
William, Ger defending many 
Zaccheus, Syr. innocent 
Zachary, Lleb. remembering the 
Lord 

Zebedee, Syr. having an inheritance 
Zedekiah, Heb. the justice of the 
Lord. 


Abigail, Heb. the father’s joy 

Adeline, Ger. a princess 

Agatha, Gr. good 

Agnes, Gr. chaste 

Alethea, Gr. the truth 

Althea, Gr. hunting 

Alice, Alicia, Ger. noble 

Amy, Amelia, Fr. a beloved 

Anna, Anne, Hannah, Heb. gracious 

Arabella, Lat. a fair altar 




164 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Aureola, Lat. like gold 
Barbara, Lat. foreign or strange 
Beatrice, Lat. making happy 
Benedicta, Lat. blessed 
Bernice, Gr. bringing victory 
Bertha, Gr. bright or famous 
Blanche, Fr. fair 
Bona, Lat. good 
Bridget, Irish, shining bright 
Cassandra, Gr. a reformer of men 
Catharine, Gr. pure or clean 
Charity, Gr. love, bounty 
Charlotte, Fr. all noble 
Caroline, feminine of Carolus, the 
Latin of Charles, noble-spirited 
Chloe, Gr. a green herb 
Christiana, Gr. belonging to Christ 
Cecilia, Lat. from Cecil 
Cicely, a corruption of Cecilia 
Clara, Lat. clear or bright 
Constance, L,at. constant 
Damaris, Gr. a little wife 
Deborah, Heb. a bee 
Diana, Gr. Jupiter’s daughter 
Dorcas, Gr. a wild roe 
Dorothy, Gr. the gift of God 
Drusilla, Gr. dewy eyes 
Dulsabella, Lat. sweet and fair 
Eadith, Sax. happiness 
Eleanor, Sax. all fruitful 
Eliza, Elizabeth, Heb. the oath of 
God 

Emily, corrupted from Amelia 
Emma, Ger. a nurse 
Esther, Hesther, Heb. secret 
Eve, Heb. causing life 
Eunice, Gr. fair victory 
Eudola, Gr. prospering in the way 
Frances, Ger. free 
Gertrude, Ger. all truth 
Grace, Lat. favour 
Hagar, Heb. a stranger 
Helena, Gr. alluring 
Jane, softened from Joan, or 
Janne, the feminine of John 
Janet, Jeannette, little Jane 
Joyce, Fr. pleasant 
Isabella, Span, fair Eliza 
Judith, Heb. praising 
Julia, Juliana, feminine of Julias 
Kunigunda, Ger. the king’s favour 
Lettice or Letitia, Lat. joy or glad¬ 
ness 

Lois, Gr. better 

Lucretia, Lat. a chaste Roman lady 


Lucy, Lat. feminine of Lucius 
Lydia, Gr. descended from Lud 
Mabel, Lat. lovely 
Magdalene or Maudlin, Syr. mag¬ 
nificent 

Margaret, Ger. a pearl 
Martha, Heb. bitterness 
Mary, Heb. bitter 

Maud or Matilda, Gr. a lady of 
honour 

Melicent, Fr. sweet as honey 
Mercy, English, compassion 
Mildred, Sax. speaking mild 
Nest, Brit, the same as Agnes 
Nicola, Gr. feminine of JSicolas 
Olympia, Gr. heavenly 
Orabilis, Lat. to be entreated 
Parnel, or Petronilla, little Peter 
Patience, Lat. bearing patiently 
Paulina, Lat. feminine of Paulinus 
Penelope, Gr. a turkey 
Persis, Gr. a destroying 
Philadelphia, Gr. brotherly love 
Philippa, Gr. feminine of Philip 
Phoebe, Gr. the light of life 
Phyllis, Gr. a green bough 
Priscilla, Lat. somewhat old 
Prudence, Lat. discretion 
Psyche, Gr. the soul 
Rachel, Heb. a lamp 
Rebecca, Heb. fat or plump 
Rhode, Gr. a rose 
Rosamund, Sax. rose of peace 
Rosa, Lat. a rose 
Rosecleer, Eng. a fair rose 
Rosabella, Ital. a fair rose 
Ruth, Heb. trembling 
Sabina, Lat. sprungfrom the Sabines 
Salome, Heb. perfect 
Sapphira, Gr. like a sapphire stone 
Sarah, Heb. a princess 
Sibylla, Gr. the counsel of God 
Sophia, Gr. wisdom 
Soppronia, Gr. of a sound mind 
Susan, Susanna, Heb. a lily 
Tabitha, Syr. a roe 
Temperance, Lat. moderation 
Theodosia, Gr. given by God 
Trypliosa, Gr. delicious 
Tryphena, Gr. delicate 
Vida, Erse, feminine of David 
Ursula, Lat. a female bear 
Mai burg, Sax. gracious 
Winifred, Sax. winning peace 
Zenobia, Gr. the life of Jupiter 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


165 


ANCIENT AND MODERN GAMES, EIELD SPORTS, AND OTHER 

AMUSEMENTS. 


PLAYING CARDS. 

Playing cards are said to have been invented in China in the 
reign of Leun-ho (1120), and were common in 1131. As early 
as 1463 there were card-makers in this country, the importation 
of playing cards having been prohibited by Act of Parliament 
in that year, as injurious to the interests of native manufacturers. 
Edward Darcy obtained a patent for the manufacture of them at 
the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who, as well as her 
sister Mary, was partial to card-playing. The importation of 
them was prohibited after the 20th July 1615, during the reign 
of James I., u as the art of making them was then brought to 
perfection in this country.” The Company of Card-makers was 
first incorporated by letters patent of Charles I. in 1629. From 
the Restoration to the reign of Queen Anne, card-playing 
attained its full tide of popularity throughout England. Ombre 
was the favourite game for the ladies, and piquet for gentlemen; 
clergymen and country squires played whist, and the commoners 
played at all-fours, put, cribbage, and contraloo. At no other 
time, before or since, was card-playing so prevalent. The good 
old English landlord used to send a string of hogs’ puddings and 
a pack of cards, as a Christmas gift, to every poor family in the 
parish. No person is allowed to manufacture playing cards in 
this country, except in the cities of London, Westminster, and 
in the city of Dublin in Ireland. Their manufacture is prohibited 
in Scotland. The duty is upwards of two hundred per cent, on 
the cost of manufacture, besides the duty on paper, which amounts 
to about 6d. on a dozen packs. The duty and export aces are 
printed at Somerset House on paper furnished by the card- 
makers, who have also to pay ,£30 for every ace plate. An officer 
is sent round to the different card-makers with seals, one of 
which is affixed to each pack required for immediate sale: the 
amount of duty of Is. per pack must be paid on the 1st of each 
month. 

GAME OF WHIST 

Playing cards have been termed by the rigid moralist the 
Devil’s Books ! No doubt the misuse of them has been creative 
of much misery and mischief. As an amusement, however, they 
have cheered the captive, enlivened the sick-room, and have given 
life and buoyancy to the domestic circle. The Christmas holidays 
are plentifully supplied with round games for the diversion of 
the young, while the old grandmothers are deeply interested in 




166 


TIIS ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


the pegs of a cribbage-board by a chimney corner. All-fours 
belong to the grocer’s back parlour; cassino to the drawing¬ 
room ; while sober whist is the everyday and every other-body’s 
amusement who understand, or even misunderstand it. This 
game is of Spanish origin, and was first introduced into this 
country at the marriage of Philip II. and Mary. The name car¬ 
ries with it its own derivation, being a game that requires a strict 
silence; for, as its requisite is a nice calculation, and an undis¬ 
turbed memory, so the least talking or disturbance distracts the 
attention, and consequently produces bad play, and to those 
whose memories are the weakest, the loss of the game.—Hence 
it has been termed whist; i. e., be silent. 

POPE JOAN. 

The Pope Joan Board makes its appearance on Christmas Eve, 
and continues for some time after to amuse the domestic circle, 
old and young. But what the origin of the term is, few it is 
presumed know; it therefore is here given. 

Pope Joan was called John VIII. Platina saith, she was of 
English extraction, but born at Mentz; who, having disguised 
herself like a man, travelled with her paramour to Athens, 
where she made such progress in learning, that coming to Rome, 
she met with few that could equal her, so that on the death of 
Pope Leo IY. she was chosen to succeed him; but being got 
with child by one of her domestics, her travail came upon her 
between the Colossian Theatre and St. Clement’s, as she was going 
to the Lateran church, and died upon the place, having sat two 
years, one month, and four days, and was buried there without 
any pomp. He owns, that for shame of this the popes decline 
going through this street to the Lateran ; and that to avoid the 
like error, when any pope is placed in the Porphyry chair, his 
genitals are felt by the youngest deacon, through a hole made 
for that purpose ; but he supposes the reason of that to be, to 
put him in mind that he is a man, and obnoxious to the necessi¬ 
ties of nature; and he calls the seat, Sedes Stercoraria . 

That Papissa Joanna, however, is merely a fictitious character is 
now universally acknowledged. Gibbon rejects her history as 
fabulous ; and she has been annihilated by two learned Pro¬ 
testants, Blondel and Bayle. Spanheim and L’Enfant attempted 
to save this poor engine of controversy ; and even Mosheim con¬ 
descends to cherish some doubts and suspicion of her existence. 

GAME OF CHESS. 

The etymology of the word Chess, is, like the origin of the 
game, somewhat uncertain; but its whole composition proves its 
Asiatic origin. In Sanscrit it is called schthrants/i, a word which 


I 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


167 


is believed to indicate tlie most important and component parts 
of an eastern army, elephants, infantry, horses, &c. But this 
name was supplanted by the Persian word Shah (king), which 
the game has retained, more or less corrupted in all languages. 
The Italians call it scacchi; the Germans, schachspie, and the 
French, echecs, from some of which we may have taken our word 
check. The pawn seems to have been evidently so called after 
the peon, while the rook , though more generally termed a castle, 
took its name from the Persian rukh, which is the corresponding 
piece; and it is remarkable that, in all the languages here enu¬ 
merated, the word mat or mate is preserved, and a term is used 
corresponding with the schahmat of the Persians. 

BACKGAMMON. 

Of this game we have no clue to its origin ; at any rate, we can 
give our readers the derivation of the term. The word is of 
Welsh origin, from hack, little, and cammawn, battle, from which 
comes Backgammon. 

ARCHERY. 

“ And thou, peculiar weapon of our land, 

Graceful, vet sturdy bow.” 

The use of the bow may be traced to the remotest antiquity. 
The first notice which we find of it is in Genesis (xxi. 20), where 
it is said that Ishmael became an archer. It was first introduced 
into England in the reign of Egbert the Saxon, but was not, how¬ 
ever, used as a martial weapon until the reign of Edward I. The 
period at which the long bow had attained its meridian fame, 
may be fixed in the reign of Henry V., whose archers destroyed 
the whole French cavalry, clothed in complete steel, with their 
yard long arrows. At the battle of Flodden-field, likewise, the 
English archers made sad havoc. As to the amusement, the bow 
was extremely fashionable in the reign of* Henry VIII.; and 
Holinshed reports, that the prince shot as well as any of his 
guard. After the siege of Devizes, in the civil wars, 1647, the 
bow, as a military weapon, was entirely laid aside. During the 
reigns of Charles II. and James II., the amusement was con¬ 
tinued, and the Artillery Company, originally the Finsbury 
Archers, then so celebrated, has survived to the present time; 
but with the exception of this Company, till within these last fifty 
years the bow was scarcely known. It derived its name of 
archery from the bow being, when drawn, in the shape of an 
arch. 

MORRIS DANCE. 

The origin of the dance is uniformly given to the Moors. The 
fandango of Spain, danced to the present day, is the old Moorish 



\ 


168 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

or Morris Dance. It is supposed to have been first brought to 
England in the time of Edward III., when John of Gaunt 
returned from Spain. 

FIVES AND FIVES’ COURTS. 

“ Tost and retost, the ball incessant flies.” 

A game so called, because when first played, in the reign of 
Elizabeth, there were Jive competitors in it; and not, as generally 
supposed, from the hand, which strikes the ball, consisting of four 
fingers and a thumb, vulgarly called a “ bunch of fives.” 

The place so celebrated in the annals of pugilism, derives its 
name from the circumstance of its being once equally famed for 
the game of Fives. 

GAME OF RACKETS. 

The French palm-play, consisted in receiving the ball, and 
driving it back again with the palm of the hand, similar to our 
game of lives. Anciently they played Rackets with their naked 
hand, then with a glove, which in some instances was lined ; 
afterwards they bound cords and tendons round their hands, to 
make the ball rebound more forcibly ; and hence, says St. Foix, 
the Backet derived its origin. 

O 


DANCING. 

“ Hail, loveliest art! thou canst all hearts insnare. 

And make the fairest still appear more fair. 

Hence with her sister arts shall dancing claim 
An equal right to universal fame; 

And Isaac’s rigadoon shall live as long 
As Itaphael’s painting, or as Virgil's song”—Jenyns. 

Dancing, applied to harmonize the motions of the body, to teach 
an easy gesture, and a graceful attitude, is highly useful, and the 
poet’s numbers have thus been attuned to its eulogy. 

To trace the origin of dancing would be a difficult task. That 
it was used by the Jews in their religious rites, there can be no 
question of; for we are informed that “ David danced before the 
Lord with all his might, until his linen ephod came off.” It passed 
from the religious ceremonies of the Jews to the Eo-yptians 
and afterwards to the Greeks and Bomans, with wliommt was a 
principal part of the worship of their gods. It was afterwards 
adopted m many Pagan nations; and Christians ultimately, in 
Popish countiies, celebrated certain festivals, particularly the 
Saci ament of the Passion of our Lord, with dancing. Socrates 
learned to dance at an advanced time of life; it is no wonder 
thei efoie, that such honourable mention is made of dancing by his 
disciples, Plato and Xenophon. The people of Sparta and Crete 
\\ ent to the attack dancing. On the other hand, Cicero reproaches 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


169 


Galbinus, a consular man, with having danced. Tiberius expelled 
the dancers from Rome, andDomitian excluded several members 
from the senate for having danced; but the acts of these imperial 
despots may be considered rather as the suggestions of caprice 
and folly, than as the dictates of wisdom and virtue. 

Our ancestors used to keep up the sport till midnight, and it 
was an indispensable accompaniment of weddings. The monks 
used to dance in their dormitories. Swords, called Dancing 
Rapiers, were worn in the dancing-schools; which schools existed 
in the Universities in Evelyn’s time. In the grand rebellion, a 
clergyman was charged with having taught, in the pulpit, that 
we ought to learn to dance, and that if we could not dance we 
were damned. 

The London servants in the twelfth century used to dance 
before their masters’ doors. Hawkins notices dancing to a bag¬ 
pipe, played by a domestic; and that no dance tunes are known 
so early as 1400 ; “ Sellenger’s Round,” to be traced nearly to 
Henry VIII., being the oldest. In the most ancient dances, a 
man and woman danced together, holding each other by the hand 
or arm; and a kiss was the established fee of the lady’s partner. 
In the time of Queen Elizabeth, at a solemn dancing, were first 
the grave measures (as now, minuets), then the corrantoes and 
golliards; at length to frenchmore, or trenchmore, and the cushion 
dance, after which all the company danced, lord and groom, lady 
and kitchen-maid, without distinction! Before the reign of 
Francis I., they danced in France to fife and drum. Coryat 
notices, that the brother to the Duke of Guise, and his gentle¬ 
men, danced corrantoes and lovaltoes in the court of an inn. 

FANDANGO. 

This far-famed dance, so peculiar to the South Americans, of 
which writers have said so much, and which lias recently been 
imported into this country, is intended as a dumb representation 
of courtship. The music begins at first slow and monotonous, 
but gradually increases from andante to allegro. The gentleman 
commences by pursuing the lady quietly and gently, who retreats 
in the like manner, making short circles, and turning on her 
heel at each time that her partner approaches, quickening her 
step and evolutions as the tune of the music increases, until she 
perceives that he seems inclined to give up the pursuit; repent¬ 
ance follows, and the pursuer is in his turn pursued, making 
similar retreats, and the same circumvolutions that the lady so 
recently practised ; until at last relenting, he turns to meet her, 
and they approach each other more closely; and, being appa¬ 
rently reconciled, make three or four peculiar stamps with their 
feet, bow to each other, and retire to their seats literally ex¬ 
hausted, amidst the acclamations of the bystanders. 


170 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


SKAITING. 

Skaiting was first introduced into this country from Holland, 
at an early period, and the Dutch introduced it from Lapland.— 
Skate or Skait, in the German, signifies to glide along a smooth 
surface. The Dutch are allowed to be the first skaiters in Eu¬ 
rope ; the farmers’ daughters frequently skaiting on the canals 
to the market towns with milk, eggs, butter, &c., in baskets on 
their heads. Fitzstephens, who wrote in the reign of Henry II., 
thus notices it:—“ When that great moor which washes Moor- 
fields at the north wall of the city is frozen over, great companies 
of young men go to sport upon the ice, and bind to their shoes, 
bones, as the legs of beasts, and hold stakes in their hands, 
headed with sharp iron, which sometimes they strike against the 
ice, and then these men go with speed, as doth a bird in the air, 
or darts shot from some warlike engine. Sometimes two men 
set themselves at a distance, and run one against another, as if it 
were at tilt, with these stakes, wherewith one or both parties are 
thrown down, not without some hurt to their bodies, and after 
their fall, by reason of their violent motion, are carried at a good 
distance one from another. Thus do the young men exercise 
themselves in counterfeit battles, that they may bear the brunt 
more strongly when they come to it in good earnest.” 

Some singular specimens of such bones, used as skaits by the 
citizens of London, are preserved in the curious museum of Lon¬ 
don Antiquities, collected by Mr. C. Roach Smith. 

BULL-BAITING IN ENGLAND. 

“ In Lincolnshire, where virtuous worth 
Does raise the minstrelsy, not birth; 

Where bulls do choose the boldest king 
And ruler, o’er the men of string.”— Huclibras. 

The first bull-bait held in this country was held at Stamford 
in Lincolnshire, about the year 1209, and was introduced from 
the following circumstances“ Earl Warrenare, lord of the 
town, standing upon the walls of the castle, observed two bulls 
fighting, until the butchers’ dogs interposed and pursued one of 
them through the town, which sight so pleased his lordship, that 
he gave the meadow where the fray began to the butchers of the 
town, to be used as a common after the first grass was mown, on 
condition that they should find a mad bull the day six weeks be¬ 
fore Christmas-day, for the continuance of that sport for ever.” 

BEAR-BAITING. 

This cruel and unmanly amusement is of African origin, and 
was introduced into Europe by the Romans. Long, however, as 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


171 


it disgraced the continent, the Romans, to their credit, did not 
introduce it here; judging, it is presumed, that our ancestors were 
of themselves savage enough. The first we read of bear-baiting 
in England, was in the reign of king John, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 
where “ thys straynge passtime was introduced by some Italyans 
for his highness’s amusement, wherewith he and his court were 
highly delyghted.” 

CATS. 

“ E’en now I see, descending from his throne, 

Thy venerable Cat, O Whittington ! ” 

Cats were brought into England from the island of Cyprus, b}* - 
some foreign merchants, who came hither for tin. In the old 
Welsh laws, a kitten from its birth till it could see, was valued 
at a penny ; when it began to mouse, twopence ; and after it had 
killed mice, at fourpence, which was the price of a calf! Wild 
cats were kept by our ancient kings for hunting. The officers 
who had the charge of these cats, seem to have had appointments 
of equal consequence with the masters of the king’s hounds; they 
were called ccitatores. 


DOGS. 

The bull-dog was originally from Italy ; the greyhound and 
the beagle, as well as the fox-liound, are peculiar to Britain. 
This country was once famous for the export of dogs; they are 
thus described in a passage of Appian. 

“ There is a kind of dogs of mighty fame 
For hunting, worthy of a fairer frame, 

By painted Britons brave in war they’re bred, 

Are beagles call’d, and to the chase are led; 

Their bodies small, and of so mean a shape, 

You’d think them curs that under tables gape.” 

The blood-hound was once peculiar to this country, but now 
is seldom met with save in the West India Islands, particularly 
St. Domingo and the island of St. Lucia. 

HAWKING. 

Hawking, according to Beckmann,was known to the Greeks and 
Romans; its origin, in England, cannot be traced till the reign of 
king Ethelbert, the Saxon monarch, in the year 760, when he 
■wrote to Germany for a brace of falcons. In the reign of James 
I., Sir James Monson is said to have given a thousand pounds for 
a cast of hawks. In the reign of Edward III., it was made felony 
to steal a hawk; to take its eggs, even in a person’s own ground, 
was punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, together 
with a fine at the king’s pleasure. In former times, the custom 
of carrying a hawk on the hand was confined to men of high dis- 


172 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


tinction;* so that it was a saying among the Welsh, “you may 
know a gentleman by his hawk,+ horse, and greyhound.” Even 
the ladies in those days were partakers of this gallant sport, and 
have been represented in sculpture with hawks on their hands. 
•—See Bewick’s British Birds , vol. i. p. 26. It is recorded that a 
falcon belonging to a duke of Cleves, flew out of Westphalia into 
Prussia in one day; and in the county of Norfolk, a hawk has 
made a flight at a woodcock near thirty miles in an hour. Some 
of the larger kind have been taught to fly at the wild boar and 
the wolf. With this view, they should be accustomed to feed, 
when young, from out of the sockets of the ey es of a wolf or boar’s 
head, the whole skin of the animal being stuffed, so as to make it 
appear alive. While the bird is feeding, the falconer begins to 
move the figure gradually, in consequence of which, the bird 
learns to fasten itself so as to stand firm, notwithstanding the 
precipitate motions which are gradually given to the stufled ani¬ 
mal; he would lose his meat if he quitted his hold, and therefore 
he takes care to secure himself. When these first exercises are 
finished, the skin is placed on a cart, drawn by a horse at full 
speed; the bird follows it, and is particularly eager in feeding; 
and then, when they come to fly him in the field, he never fails to 
dart on the first beast of the kind he discovers, and begins to 
scoop out the eyes. This puts the animal to such distress, that 
the hunters have time to approach and dispatch it with their 
spears. This species of inhuman education would be more 
honoured in the breach than the observance. The grand seignor 
usually keeps 6,000 falconers in his service. The French king had 
a grand falconer. 

The duke of St. Alban’s is hereditary Grand Falconer of Eng¬ 
land. St. Alban’s seems to have been a favourite place for hawk¬ 
ing. Shakspeare says, 

“ Ride unto St. Alban’s, 

Where the king and queen do mean to hawk” 

And at this place was printed, by Caxton, a Treatise on Hunt¬ 
ing, Hawking, and Heraldry. Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes , 
mentions an historical fact, related by Hall, who informs us that 
Henry VIII., pursuing his hawk on foot, at Hitclien, in Hert¬ 
fordshire, attempted, with the assistance of his pole, to jump over 
a ditch that was half full of muddy water; the pole broke, and 
the king fell with his head into the mud, where he would have 
been stifled, had not a footman, named John Moody, who was 
near at hand, and seeing the accident, leaped into the ditch, and 
released his majesty from his perilous situation; “ and so,” says 
the honest historian, “ God in liys goodnesse preserved him.” 

* See Origin of St. Alban’s family. 

f “ It can be no more disgrace to a great lord to draw a fair picture, than 
to cut his hawk’s meat.”— Peacham. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


173 


SWANS. 

Swans were first brought into England by Richard I., from 
Cyprus. It is a bird that has ever been held in great esteem in 
England, and by an act of Edward IV., none except the son of a 
king was permitted to keep one, unless possessed of five marks a 
year; and by a subsequent act, taking their eggs, in like manner 
as those of the hawk, was punished with imprisonment for a 
year and a day, and a fine at the king’s will. 

In Coke’s Reports, part 7th, in the case of swans, it is re¬ 
marked, “ that he who stealeth a swan in an open and common 
river, lawfully marked, the same swan shall be hung in a house 
by the beak, and he who stole it shall, in recompence thereof, 
give to the owner so much wheat as may cover all the swan, by 
putting and turning the wheat upon the head of the swan, until 
the head of the swan be covered with wheat.” 

Black swans, it is ascertained, are any thing but uncommon 
at the Cape of Good Hope, and indeed may now be met 
with in various parts of England; so that the proverb, “ a black 
swan is a rare bird on the earth,” is no longer applicable. In 
the Thames at present, the greatest number of Swans belong to 
the Queen, and the Companies of Vintners and Dyers own the 
next largest proportion; but the birds are far less numerous than 
they used to be. The swan marks are made upon the upper 
mandible with a knife or other sharp instrument. The swan¬ 
hopping or upping, that is, the catching and taking up the swans 
to mark the cygnets, and renew that on the old birds if obliterated, 
in the presence of the Royal swans’ herdsman, is still continued 
by the Companies above mentioned. 

GAMING. 

This vice is coeval with amusement, for, however trifling the 
stake, when the passions become excited, it has no bounds. 
Pernicious gambling may be said to have been introduced into 
Eugland with cock-fighting, a notice of which follows this. To 
discharge their gambling debts, the Siamese sell their possessions, 
their families, and at length themselves. The Chinese play night 
and day, till they have lost all they are worth, and then they 
usually go and hang themselves. 

Such is the propensity of the Japanese for high play, that they 
were compelled to make a law, that whoever ventures his money 
at play shall be put to death. 

In the islands of the Pacific Ocean they venture even their 
hatchets, which they hold as invaluable acquisitions, on running 
matches. “We saw a man,” as Cook writes in his last voyage, 

“ beating his breast, and tearing his hair, in the violence of rage, 
for having lost three hatchets at one of these races, and which he 



174 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


had purchased with nearly half his property.” A strong spirit of 
play characterises a Malayan. After having resigned every 
thing to the good fortune of the winner, he is reduced to a horrid 
state of desperation; he then loosens a certain lock of hair, which 
indicates war and destruction to all the raving gamester meets. 
He intoxicates himself with opium, and, working himself up to a 
tit of frenzy, he bites and kills all that comes in his way. But, 
as soon as ever this lock is seen flowing, it is lawful to fire at the 
person, and to destroy him as fast as possible. It is this which 
our sailors call u to run a muck.” Thus Dryden writes:— 

“ Frontless, and satire-proof, he scours the streets, 

And runs an Indian Muck at all he meets.” 

The ancient nations were not less addicted to gaming. To 
notice the more modern ones were a melancholy task: there is 
hardly a family in Europe who cannot record, from their own 
domestic annals, the dreadful prevalence of this unfortunate 
passion. Affection has felt the keenest lacerations, and genius 
been irrecoverably lost, by a wanton sport, which dooms to 
destruction the hope of families, and consumes the heart of the 
gamester with corrosive agony. 

“ Accept this advice, you who sit down to play, 

The best throw of the dice, is to throw them away.” 

COCK-FIGHTING. 

Cock-fighting, as a sport, was derived from the Athenians, on 
the following occasion. When Tliemistocles was marching his 
army against the Persians, he, by the way, espying two cocks 
fighting, caused his army to stop, and addressed them as follows. 
“ Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the 
monuments of their ancestors, nor for glory, nor for liberty, nor 
for the safety of their children, but only because the one will not 
give way to the other.” This so encouraged the Grecians, that 
they fought strenuously, and obtained the victory over the 
Persians; upon which, cock-fighting was, by a particular law, 
ordained to be annually celebrated by the Athenians. 

^ tlie English cock s in his Commentaries; but 
^ ^ ^ notice of co civ fi^litm^ in England is by Fitzstephens, 

who died 1191. He mentions this as one of the amusements of 
the Londoners, together with the game of foot-ball. 

An ingenious writer says_“ Cock-fighting is a despicable 
amusement, and plainly open to all the objections against boxing 
without having any thing to say for itself. Cruelty and cowardice 
notoriously go together. In cock-fighting they are both at their 
height. If any body means to be convinced, let him look at 
Hogarth’s picture of it, and the faces concerned. Would the 
gambler in that picture, the most absorbed in the hope of 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


175 


winning, ever forget liis own bones, as he does those of the brave 
animals before him? Cock-fighting has been in use among 
nations of great valour, our own for one; but it was the barbarous, 
and not the brave part of the national spirit that maintained it, 
and one that had not yet been led to think on the subject. 
Better knowledge puts an end to all excuses of that sort.” 

QUOITS. 

This game, no doubt, is of great antiquity, and was known to 
the ancient Greeks; for we find in Homer’s Iliad , at least in Pope’s 
translation of it, book xxiii. line 973, the following: 

“ Then hurl’d the hero, thundering on the ground 
A mass of iron (an enormous round), 

Whose weight and size the circling Greeks admire. 

Rude from the furnace, and but shaped by fire. 

Let him whose might cau hurl this bowl, arise, 

Who further hurls it, take it as his prize.” 


FOOT-BALL. 

Sir Frederick Morton Eden, in the Statistical Account of Scot¬ 
land, says, that at Scone, in the county of Perth, the game of 
foot-ball is a prominent amusement; and that it is a proverb in 
this part of the country, “ all is fair at the ball of Scone.” Sir 
Frederick goes on to say, that this custom is supposed to have 
had its origin in the days of chivalry; when an Italian is reported 
to have come into this part of the country, challenging all the 
parishes, under a certain penalty in case of declining his challenge. 
All the parishes declined this challenge excepting Scone, which 
beat the foreigner, and in commemoration of this gallant action 
the game was instituted. 

ORIGINS AND ANTIQUITY OF VARIOUS JUVENILE AMUSEMENTS. 

“ Children and youth engage my pen, 

’Tis labour lost to write for men.” 

Trochus , in antiquity, denotes the exercise, or the game of the 
hoop. The hoop was of iron, five or six feet in diameter, set on 
the inside with a number of iron rings. The boys and young men 
used to whirl this along, as is now done at school with modern 
hoops, directing it with a rod of iron having a wooden handle, 
which the Romans called radius. The clattering of the rings 
served partly as a notice for persons to keep out of the way. 
Horace, in his Art of Poetry, mentions the hoop as one of the 
manly sports. Strutt says, the hoop is a pastime of uncertain 
origin, but much in practice at present, and especially in London, 
where the boys appear with their hoops in the public streets, and 


176 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


are sometimes very troublesome to those who are passing through 
them. Addison says, I have seen at Rome an antique statue of 
time, with a wheel, or hoop, of marble in his hand. 

Skipping. —This amusement is probably very ancient. It is 
performed by a rope held by both ends; that is, one in each hand, 
and thrown forwards or backwards over the head and under the 
feet alternately. In the hop season, a hop-stem stripped of its 
leaves, is used instead of a rope. Boys often contend for skill in 
the game, and he who passes the rope about most times without 
interruption is the conqueror. This, also, was an amusement 
practised by the Romans. 

The Top. —The Top was used in ancient days by the Grecian 
boys: it was also well known at Rome in the days of Yirgil, and 
with us as early, at least, as the fourteenth century. 

Duck and Drake. —This is a very silly pastime, though inferior 
to few in point of antiquity. It is called, in Greek, epostrakismos, 
and was anciently played with fiat shells, which the boys threw 
into the water, and he whose shell rebounded most frequently 
from the surface, before it finally sunk, was the conqueror. 

Marbles. —Marbles seem to have been used by the boys as sub¬ 
stitutes for bowls; formerly nuts and round stones were used. 

It is said of Augustus, when young, that by way of amusement 
he spent many hours in playing with little Moorish boys, cum 
nucibus, with nuts. 

Hopping , and Sliding on One Leg. —Hopping is derived from 
the Anglo-Saxon, hoppan, which signifies to leap, or dance. 
Hence, dancings are in the country called Hops. The word in 
its original meaning is preserved in Grasshopper. 

These are both very innocent amusements, and were practised 
by the Grecian youth; one they called akinetinda, which was a 
struggle between the competitors who should stand longest 
motionless upon the sole of his foot; the other, denominated 
ascoliasmos, was dancing or hopping upon one foot; the conqueror 
being he who could hop the most frequently, and continue the 
performance longer than any of his comrades; and this pastime 
is alluded to by an English author in an old comedy, wherein a 
boy, boasting of his proficiency in various school games, adds, 

“ And I hop a good way upon my one legge.” 

Shuttlecock. —Shuttlecock is a boyish sport of long standing; 
it appears to have been a fashionable pastime among grown per¬ 
sons in the reign of James the First, and is mentioned as such in 
an old comedy, “ The Two Maids of Moretlacke,” printed a.d. 
1609, of that time, wherein it is said, “To play at Shuttle-cock, 
methinks, is the game now.” And among the anecdotes of Prince 
Henry, son to J ames the First, is the following: “ His Highness 
playing at sliittle-cocke with one far taller than himself, and 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 177 

hytting him by chance with the shittle-cocke upon the forehead, 
“ this is,'’ quoth he, “ the encounter of David with Goliath.” 

Tetter-totter , or Seesaw. —Tetter-totter, or see-saw, an amusing, 
but sometimes a dangerous game, so well known to rustic lads 
and lasses, and mentioned by Gay: 

“Across the fallen oak the plank I laid, 

And myself poised against the tottering maid; 

High leap’d the plank, adown Buxoma fell.” 

Cross and Pile , or Head or Tail. —Cross and Pile, or, with us, 
“ Head or Tail,” was formerly played at court; Edward the Second 
was partial to this, and such like frivolous diversions. In one of 
his wardrobe rolls we meet with the following entries: 

“ Item, paid to Henry, the king’s barber, for money which he 
lent to the king to play at Cross and Pile, five shillings. Item, 
paid to Pires Barnard, usher of the king’s chamber, money which 
he lent the king, and which he lost at Cross and Pile ; to Mon¬ 
sieur Robert Watteville, eightpence.” 

Anciently the English coins were stamped with a Cross on one 
side. This game is evidently derived from a pastime called 
ostrachinda , known in ancient times to the Grecian boys, and 
practised by them on various occasions. Having procured a shell, 
it was seared over with pitch on one side for distinction sake, 
and the other side was left white; a boy tossed up this shell, and 
his antagonist called white or black, and his success was deter¬ 
mined by the white or black part of the shell being uppermost. 

OLYMPIAN GAMES. 

The Olympian Games derive their names from the public 
games celebrated every fourth year at Olympia, in Peloponnesus. 
These games were instituted in honour of Jupiter, but at what 
time, or by whom, is not known. After they had been neglected 
and discontinued for some time, they were restored by Ipbitus, 
king of Elis, in the year b.c. 884; and it is from this date that 
the Olympian periods are reckoned in chronology. 


RE MARKABLE CUSTOMS, &c., &c. 


DUELLING. 

Although frequent and bloody were the single combats of the 
age of chivalry, yet the present system of duelling by challenge 
takes its data from Francis the First of France, who, sensibly 
mortified by the repeated defeats his armies had met with from 

N 




178 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


tliose of his imperial rival, Charles the Fifth, emperor of Ger¬ 
many, wrote the latter, challenging him to meet him in single 
combat, and thereby decide their differences, and put an end to 
the bloodshed and devastation which had ensued from their 
rivalship. Charles, however, was too much of a politician to 
accept the challenge. Another writer says :— 

u Duelling is one of the most common among the few relics of 
barbarous usage. The introduction of pistols has brought with 
it no small share of burlesque and cowardice. In close fighting, 
a man entered the lists with a heart prepared either to conquer 
or perish ; and, therefore, only those who were characterised for 
courage ventured to the contest. But different, far different, it 
is with the pistols. Any recreant coward dares to challenge on 
the smallest offence to his honour —and why? Because those 
handy factotums; those reconcilers of nothings —yclept seconds , 
either omit to charge with ball, or recommend the principals, by 
a preconcerted arrangement between them, to fire wide of the 
mark. Now, this can be deemed nothing short of arrant knavery 
and cowardice ; for he who possesses true courage or bravery, will 
take care to exert them only when actually necessary, and when 
excited by some momentous circumstance. He will look over 
trifles with a becoming and dignified demeanour, and will never 
presume to speak of his high spirit in an egotistical manner.” 

This is all well as far as it goes, and may be particularly appli¬ 
cable to gentlemen of the Stock Exchange; but, let this writer 
remember, that the pistol puts the weak man on a par with the 
strong; the timid with the powerful; and the delicate, although 
brave man, on a footing with the cowardly bully. There is 
no doubt, however, that duelling in any sense, would be more 
honoured in the breach than the observance. 

GIVING THE LIE. 

The great affront of giving the lie, arose from the phrase, “ thou 
liest,” in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats, 
before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff; 
and Francis the First of France, to make current his giving the 
lie to the emperor, Charles the Fifth, first stamped it with infamy, 
by saying in a solemn assembly, that he was no honest man that 
would bear the lie! 

HONEY-MOON. 

It was the custom of the higher order of the Teutones, an 
ancient people who inhabited the northern parts of Germany, to 
drink Mead, or Metheglin, a beverage made with honey, for 
thirty days after every wedding. From this custom comes the 
expression, “ to spend the lioney-moon,” ’when there is nothing 
but tenderness and pleasure. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


179 


CHURCHING OF WOMEN. 

This practice, like many other Christian usages, undoubtedly 
took its rise from the Jewish rite of purification enjoined by the 
law of Moses. In the Greek church, the time of performing this 
office is limited to the fortieth day after delivery; but in the 
western parts of Europe, no certain time is observed. The usual 
time with us, is a month after delivery; there being an office in 
the Book of Common Prayer, entitled “ The thanksgiving after 
childbirth.” The practice is universally observed in every other 
Christian country. 

CONFIRMATION. 

The antiquity of this ceremony is, by all ancient writers, car¬ 
ried so high as the apostles, and founded upon their example and 
practice. In the primitive church, it used to bs given to Chris¬ 
tians immediately after baptism, if the bishop happened to be 
present at the solemnity. Among the Greeks, and throughout 
the East, it still accompanies baptism; but the Romanists make 
it a distinct and independent sacrament. Seven years is the 
stated time for confirmation, although they are sometimes con¬ 
firmed before, and sometimes after that age. The order of con¬ 
firmation in the church of England, does not, however, determine 
the precise age of the persons to be confirmed. 

USE OF EVERGREENS AND MISTLETOE AT CHRISTMAS. 

“ Christmas, the joyous period of the year! 

Now bright with Holly, all the temples strew, 

With Laurel green, and sacred Mistletoe .” 

The custom of decking our habitations with evergreens, has 
existed from the very establishment of Christianity, and was un¬ 
questionably derived from the like practice of our Pagan ancestors. 
“Trimming of the tenrples,” says Polydore Virgil, “with hang- 
yngs, flowres, bouglies, and garlendes, was taken of the heathen 
people, whiche decked their idols and houses with such array.” 
The Celts and Goths were alike distinguished for the respectful 
veneration which they entertained for the Mistletoe, and for the 
solemn rites with which they gathered it about that period of the 
year when the sun approached the winter solstice. The Druids 
■were particularly famed for the distinguished regard they paid 
to the Mistletoe of the Oak; they attributed to it numerous 
virtues. At certain seasons of the year, especially at Yule Tide, 
or Christmas, they were accustomed to gather it with great 
solemnity and to sacrifice two white bullocks that had never 
been yoked (not till then), having their horns bound up. It was 
cut from the tree with a golden bill, or pruning-knife, by a priest 
habited in a white vestment, and was received in a white woollen 


ISO 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

cloth ; many orations were then said over it, and the ceremony 
being deemed complete, the sacred plant was preserved for use 
with religious care. 

The Druids had an extraordinary veneration for the number 
three , and on this principle, says Yallances, in his Grammar of the 
Irish language, it was, that Mistletoe was held so sacred by them, 
since not only its berries, but its leaves also, grew in clusters of 
three, united on one stalk.* The inhabitants of Elgin, and the 
shire of Mora} 7 , in Scotland, according to the account written by 
the Rev. Mr. Shaw, are accustomed, at the full moon in March, 
to cut withes of the mistletoe, or ivy, and making circles of them, 
to keep all the year, pretending therewith to cure hectics and 
other troubles. As the ivy is dedicated to Bacchus, so should the 
mistletoe be to Love; not, however, to the chaste Eros, but to the 
sportive Cupid. The sacred regard given to it in Pagan and 
Druidical rites has long been terminated; but it is still beheld 
with emotions of pleasurable interest, when hung up in our 
kitchens at Christmas; it gives licence to seize the soft kiss from 
the ruby lips of whatever female can be enticed or caught beneath. 
So custom authorizes, and it enjoins also, that one of the berries 
of the mistletoe be plucked off after every salute. Though coy 
in appearance, the chariest maid, at this season of festivity, is 
seldom loth to submit to the established usage ; especially when 
the swain who tempts her is one whom she approves. 

DRINKING HEALTHS. 

“ Health my Lord King, the sweet Eowena said, 

Health cried the Chieftain, to the Saxon maid; 

Then gaily rose, and midst the concourse wide, 

Kiss'd her hale lips, and placed her by his side. 

At the soft scene such gentle thoughts abound, 

That health and kisses 'mongst the guests went round; 

From this the social custom took its rise, 

We still retain, and must for ever prize.” 

Different are the versions that relate to the antiquity of this 
custom. The ancient Greeks and Romans used at their meals to 
make libations,pour out and even drink wine in honour of thegods. 
The first health which tve hear of in history is, however, ascribed 
(in the words of the story) to the pertinent and sensible Rowena, 
a beautiful daughter of Hengist, general of the Saxons, who, 
having the Isle of Thanet given him by Vortigern for assisting 
him against the Piets and Scots, obtained as much ground as he 
could encompass with an ox’s hide, to build a castle ; which, being 
completed, he invited Vortigern to supper. After the entertain^ 
ment, Hengist called his daughter Rowena, who entered with 
great dignity and magnificence, carrying a golden bowl, full of 
wine, in her hand, out of which she drank, and in the Saxon 

* See Shamrock as Irish badge. 

Cj 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


181 


language said, “Be of health, Lord King!” To this Vortigern 
replied, “Drink health!” The story adds, that Vortigern, ena¬ 
moured with Rowena’s beauty, married her in a short time after, 
and gave her father the whole kingdom of Kent. Other origins 
have been given for this custom. See origin of the phrase, “ I 
pledge you; ” also origin of phrase, “ A Peg too low! ” The one 
just given, however, may plead seniority. 

BAPTISM. 

Grotius is of opinion, that baptism had its origin from the time 
of the deluge, after which, he thinks, it was instituted in memory 
of the world having been purged by water; and some think, that 
it was added to circumcision, soon after the Samaritan schism, 
as a mark of distinction to the orthodox Jews. It is, however, 
generally agreed on, that the Jews practised this ceremony on 
their proselytes after circumcision, long before the coming of 
Jesus Christ. In the primitive times, the ceremony was per¬ 
formed by immersion, as it is to this day in the oriental churches, 
agreeably to the original signification of the word, which means 
dipping, or plunging. The practice of the western churches is 
to sprinkle the water upon the head or face of the person to be 
baptized, except the church of Milan, in whose ritual it is ordered, 
that the head of the infant be plunged three times into the water. 
A trine immersion was used first, and continued for a long time. 
This was either to signify the three days our Saviour lay in the 
grave, or the three persons in the Trinity; but it was afterwards 
laid aside, because the Arians used it. 

There are abundance of ceremonies delivered by ecclesiastical 
writers, as used in baptism, which are now laid aside, though 
there are not wanting those who contend for their re-admission. 
It appears that, in the primitive times, none were baptized but 
adults, though several learned men contend that infants were 
admitted to this sacrament. 

Formerly there were great disputes whether baptism of here¬ 
tics was valid; the general opinion ran for the affirmative, 
provided it was conferred in the name of the Trinity; and there¬ 
fore they allowed that given by laymen, or even by women, in 
cases of necessity. It was the doctrine of many of the fathers, 
that baptism washed away all previous sins, and that there was 
no atonement for sins committed after baptism. On this account 
many deferred that sacrament till they were arrived at the last 
stage of life, and were pretty safe from the danger of sinning any 
more. This they termed clinic , signifying deathbed baptism. 

HAND-FESTING. 

Hand-festing wa6 an ancient custom, as a substitute for mar¬ 
riage, by joining hands, which lasted for a year; when, if the 


182 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


parties were agreeable, it was renewed. The children, (if any) 
were kept by the inconstant. 

BIDDENDEN CAKES. 

Hasted, in his History of Kent, speaking of Biddenden, tells us 
that “ twenty acres of land, called the Bread and Cheese land, 
lying in five pieces, were given by persons unknown, the yearly 
rents to be distributed among the poor of this parish. This is 
yearly done on Easter Sunday, in the afternoon, in 600 cakes, 
each of which have the figures of two women impressed upon 
them, and are given to all such as attend the church; and 270 
loaves, weighing three pounds and a half a piece, to which latter 
is added one pound and a half of cheese, are given to the parish¬ 
ioners only at the same time. There is a vulgar tradition in 
these parts, that the figures on the cakes represent the donors of 
this gift, being two women, twins, who were joined together in 
their bodies, and lived together so till they were between twenty 
and thirty years of age. But this seems without foundation. 
The truth seems to be, that it was the gift of two maidens of the 
name of Preston, and that the print of the women on the cakes 
has taken place only within these fifty years, and were made to 
represent two poor widows as the general objects of a charitable 
benefaction.” 


KISSING THE POPE’S FOOT. 

This custom, and that of kneeling to sovereigns, was introduced 
by Dioclesian. Thence also the custom of a vassal kneeling to 
his lord in homage. Kissing the hands of great men was a Gre¬ 
cian custom. 


CROSS BUNS. 

While seasons keep rolling, and ages glide by, 

Like clouds in their circuit, beneath the blue’sky, 

Shall the proud sons of icealili bid the poor man begone, 
Whom the sunbeams of luxury never shone on ? 

Oh, no! nor the cry, howe’er simple it runs, 

The cry on Good Friday of “Buns, hot cross buns” 

The bun, like a relic of truth, brings to mind, 

How the mighty Redeemer once died for mankind! 
Like a record portrays where the sceptic waves toss. 
How he bled, and for man, on the soul-saving cross! 

Oh! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs, 

The cry on Good Friday of “Buns, hot cross buns” 

The infidel shudders that ne’er shook before, 

When death points the dart that proclaims he’s no more. 
To that God prays for help he had dared to deny, 

And calls for forgiveness with life’s latest sigh! 

Oh ! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs, 

The cry on Good Friday of “ Buns, hot cross buns.” 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


1S3 


There’s a halm in that voice which endearingly cries, 

“ The soul shall exist when mortality dies!” 

There’s a sweet in that thought like the rose’s sweet breath, 

Which tells and makes certain a triumph o’er death! 

Oh! blame not the cry, then, though simple it runs, 

The cry on Good Friday of “Buns, hot cross buns” 

Utopia. 

This custom was supposed to originate from the fast of Good 
Friday, but it is also in remembrance of the apostolic custom of 
breaking bread from house to house; and it does not appear at 
all improbable, that buns or cakes, something like those in use at 
present, were employed in this manner in the early ages. It is 
to be observed also, that if four persons divide a bun among 
them, each taking a division, they will naturally stand in the 
form of a cross, and the bun will break at its partitions. Thus, 
both the position of the parties, and the figure to which the bun 
breaks, as well as the act of breaking, are emblematical of the 
crucifixion. 

Bryant says, that boun was the sacred bread anciently offered 
to the gods. The Jewish women ask, in allusion to this custom, 
“ Did we make her cakes to worship her ? ”—(Jer. chap. xiv. v. 18). 
Hutchinson says, we still retain the name and form of the boun , 
or bun; the sacred uses are no more. 


CHPJSTMAS BOXES. 

The Athenian Oracle derives the origin of Christmas Boxes 
from this: the Romish priests had masses, for almost every thing; 
if a ship went to the Indies, a priest had a box in her, under the 
protection of some saint; and for masses, as their cant was, to be 
said to that saint, &c., the poor people must put something into 
the priest’s box, which was not opened till the ship’s return. 
The mass at that time was called mass; the box called 

Christ-mass-box , or money gathered against that time, that masses 
might be made by the priests to the saints, to forgive the people 
their sins of that time; and from this, servants had the liberty 
to get box money , that they too might be enabled to pay the 
priest for his masses, well knowing the truth of the proverb, 
“No penny, no pater-noster.” The practice of giving presents at 
Christmas, was undoubtedly founded on the pagan custom of 
New-year’s gifts, with which in these times it is blended. Fos- 
broke says, the Roman Paganalia were instituted by Servius 
Tullius, and celebrated in the beginning of the year. An altar 
was erected in every village where persons gave money. The 
apprentices’ boxes were formerly made of pottery; and Aubrey 
mentions a pot, in which Roman denarii were found, resembling 
in appearance an apprentice’s earthen Christmas-box. 


184 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


PANCAKES. 

A kind of pancake feast preceding Lent, was used in the Greek 
church, from whence we may probably have borrowed it. Mr. 
Fosbroke is decisive in the opinion, that pancakes, such as is the 
custom to eat on Shrove Tuesday, were taken from the heathen 
Fornacalia , celebrated on the 18th of February, in memory of 
making bread before ovens were invented, by the goddess For¬ 
nax. 


BRIDE CAKE. 

The custom of having Bride Cakes at marriages among the 
Christians, derives its origin from the Jews. At the marriage 
ceremony of the latter, they scatter corn on and about the bride 
and bridegroom, repeating at the same time the Scripture phrase, 
crescite et mvXtiplicamini , that is, increase and multiply. The 
custom is allegorical of an increase both in children and sub¬ 
stance. Its first origin was from the Roman custom called Con - 
farreation. 

TWELFTH CAKES. 

The custom of making merry with Twelfth Cakes, is derived 
from the feasts of Saturn, called Saturnalia. It was a sacrifice 
to Janus, from whom the month of January takes its name. Our 
Roman conquerors brought it amongst us, and offered cakes to 
Cybele, called the Great Mother, because she procured men all 
the benefits of the earth. A vast quantity of cake is made, and 
consumed annually on the 6tli of January, and all the juvenile 
branches of families are generally supposed to derive much 
pleasure and gratification, from the ceremony of choosing King 
and Queen; but, indeed, persons of all ages join in the childish 
sport; for, as Dryden says, 

“ Men are but children of a larger growth; 

Our appetites as apt to change as theirs.” 

DRAWING FOR KING AND QUEEN. 

This custom is derived from the Greeks and Romans, who, on 
the Tabernacle or Christmas festivals, drew lots for kings, by 
putting a piece of money m the middle of a cake, which, whoever 
found, was saluted as king. A custom similar to this is now 
common in this country, with tlii^ difference, that a ring is 
substituted for the piece of money. 

MINCE PIES. 

These pies were formerly made in the shape of a cradle, ora 
cratch, or a manger, and were first derived from the practice at 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


185 


Rome, of presenting the fathers of the Vatican with paste images 
and sweetmeats. In a tract printed in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth, or James I., they were called minched pies. 

PLACING MONEY IN THE MOUTHS OF THE DEAD. 

A Greek traveller going into Egypt, saw the inhabitants of a 
town bury their dead in tombs that lay on the other side of a 
lake, and on his return invented the story, and made his country¬ 
men believe it, that Charon ferried the souls of the dead across 
the river Styx to Hell. This word, Charon, is taken from the 
Egyptian language, which calls ferrymen, Charons , and the river 
Styx had its source in Pagan fiction. However, the invention 
answered better than many equally rational and principled 
speculations of the present day. Old Charon did the whole of 
the work, while all the simpletons of that day were anxious to 
pay to the fabricators, both of himself and the Styx, an ima¬ 
ginary debt due to him for ferrying the souls of their departed 
friends. 


FISH AND THE RING; STEPNEY CHURCHYARD. 

In the wall, just below the great eastern window of Stepney 
church, on an elegant white marble slab, which has been lately 
repaired and beautified, (adorned with a cherub, urns, volutes, 
palm branches, and these arms—Paley 6 or, a bend, 3 mullets, 
Elton, impaling a fish—and in the dexter chief point, annulet, 
between two bends wavy), is this inscription: Here lyeth interred, 
the body of Dame Pebecca Berry, the wife of Thomas Elton of 
Stratford-Bow, Gent., who departed this life, April 26th, 1696, 
aged 52. 

ID 4 

This monument, in all probability, from the circumstance of 
the arms, has given rise to a tradition, that Dame Berry was 
the heroine of a popular ballad, called “ The Cruel Knight, or 
the Fortunate Farmer’s Daughter;” the story of which is briefly 
as follows:— 

A knight passing a cot, hears the cries of a woman in labour. 
His knowledge in the occult sciences informs him, that the child 
then born is destined to become his wife: he endeavours to evade 
the decrees of fate, and to avoid so ignoble an alliance, by various 
attempts to destroy the child, but which are defeated. At length, 
when grown to woman’s estate, he takes her to the seaside, 
intending to drown her, but relents; at the same time, throwing 
a ring into the sea, he commands her never to see his face again 
on pain of death, unless she shall produce the ring. She after¬ 
wards becomes a cook in a gentleman’s family, and finds the ring 
in a cod-fish , as she is dressing it for dinner. The marriage takes 
place, of course. This story is devoutly believed in the once 
suburban, but now crowded hamlet of Stepney. 


18C 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


PIN MONEY. 

Pins were acceptable new year’s gifts to the ladies, instead of 
the wooden skewers which they used till the end of the fifteenth 
century. Sometimes they received a composition in money; and 
hence allowances for their separate use, is still denominated “ Pin- 
money.” Gloves were customary New-year’s gifts. They were 
more expensive than in our times, and occasionally a money 
jmesent was tendered instead; this was called “ Glove-money.” 

NEW-YEAR’S GIFTS. 

Fosbroke, in his valuable Encyclopedia of Antiquities , adduces 
various authorities to show, that congratulations, presents, and 
visits, were made by the Romans on New-year’s day. The 
origin, he says, is ascribed to Romulus and Tatius, and that the 
usual presents were figs and dates, covered with leaf gold, and 
sent by clients to patrons, accompanied with a piece of money, 
which was expended to purchase statues of some deities. 

“ The next to this is Newe Yeares day 
Whereon to every frende, 

They costly presents in do bring, 

And New Yeares Giftes do sende. 

These giftes the husband gives his wife, 

And father eke the eliilde, 

And maister on his men bestowes 
The like, with favour milde.” 


THE WEDDING FINGER, EMBLEMATICAL OF MATRIMONIAL UNION. 

There are few objects amongst the productions of art, contem¬ 
plated with such lively interest by ladies, after a certain age, as 
the simple and unadorned annular implement of Hymen, yclept 
the Wedding Ring; this has been a theme for poets of every 
calibre, for geniuses of every wing, from the dabbling duckling 
to the solar eagle. The mouldy antiquary can tell the origin of 
the custom with which it is connected, and perchance why a 
ring is round, and account for many circumstances concerning 
the ceremony of the circlet, on the most conclusive evidence, 
amounting to absolute conjectural demonstration. Of all that 
has been said and written in reference to the ring, I believe the 
more lovely part engaged in the mystic matter, the taper residence 
of this ornament, has been neglected; now, this is rather curious, 
as there are facts belonging to the ring finger, which render it 
in a peculiar manner an appropriate emblem of matrimonial 
union; it is the only finger where two principal nerves belong to 
two distinct trunks; the thumb is supplied with its principal 
nerves from the radial nerve, as is also the fore-finger, the middle 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


187 


finger, and the thumb side of the ring finger, whilst the ulnar 
nerve furnishes the little finger and the other side of the ring 
finger, at the point or extremity of which a real union takes 
place; it seems as if it were intended by nature to be the 
matrimonial finger. 

That the side of the ring finger next the little finger is supplied 
by the ulnar nerve, is frequently proved by a common accident, 
that of striking the elbow against the edge of a chair, a door, or 
any narrow hard substance ; the ulnar nerve is then frequently 
struck, and a thrilling sensation is felt in the little finger, and on 
the same side of the ring finger, but not on the other side of it. 
-—Anatomicus Junior. 


MARRIAGE BY PROXY. 

In marriage by proxy, it was formerly the custom for the 
proxy to introduce his right leg up to the knee into the bed of 
the princess whom he married. Louis de Baviare, who married 
the Princess Marie de Bourgogne, daughter of Charles, Duke of 
Bourgogne, in the name of Archduke Maximilian of Austria, 
performed this ceremony. The object of the ceremony was to 
render the marriage more certain, it being supposed that the 
princess who had submitted to this kind of approach on the part 
of man, could not depart from her engagement and take another 
husband. 

It is said that the Emperor Maximilian was married by proxy 
to Anne de Bretagne, who, nevertheless, afterwards married 
Charles VIII., of France, her marriage with Maximilian never 
having been consummated. But from a scruple of conscience, 
or some other cause, historians relate, that it was necessary to 
have recourse to the arguments of many theologians, and to 
examples drawn from holy writ, before the lady could be brought 
to listen to the proposition of her marriage with Charles VIII. 

If the early historians may be believed, the first marriage by 
proxy was that of Clovis of France with Clotilde; Aurele having, 
it is said, married Clotilde at the court of Bourgogne, in the 
name of Clovis, his master, by giving her a ring and other pledges 
of a legitimate marriage. The ancient practice of placing the 
proxy’s leg in the bed of the bride, is long since discontinued. 

It existed, however, in Poland in the time of Hierera, who, in 
speaking of the marriage of Cardinal Radzivil with the Arch¬ 
duchess Ann of Austria, says, that the proxy of king Sigismund 
III. slept completely armed at the side of the new queen, in con¬ 
formity with the ceremony, que les Reyes de Polonia ental caso 
accastumbran. 

A king’s proxy is usually a prince of his blood; if he be not, 
he is not allowed to take the hand of the princess, but only to 
place his by the side of hers. 


188 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


GIVING QUARTER. 

This custom, so well known in warfare, had its origin in an 
agreement between the Dutch and Spaniards, .that the ransom 
of an officer or soldier should be the Quarter of his year’s pay. 
Hence to beg quarter, was to offer a quarter of their pay for 
personal safety; and to refuse quarter, was not to accept the 
offered ransom. 


LORD MAYOR’S DAY. 

Lord Mayor’s day in London was first made annual in the 
year 1214. Until that period, the chief magistrate was appointed 
for life. 

Before the alterations of the style in 15S2, the Lord Mayors of 
London came into office on the 29th October, on which account it 
would seem that, ever since 1800, the Lord Mayor’s day ought to 
have been on the 10th of November instead of the 9th, the differ¬ 
ence between the old and new style being 12 days. (See page 122.) 

LORD MAYOR’S SHOW. 

This show, says Hone in his “ Ancient Mysteries,” is the only 
state exhibition in the metropolis that remains as a memorial of 
the great doings in the time of the pageants. In a curious 
description of the show as it was managed in 1575, it is related, 
that “ to make way in the streetes, certayne men were employed, 
apparalled like devells and wylde men, with skybbs and certain 
beadells.” 

The number of persons who dined at Guildhall was 1000, all at 
the charge of the mayor and the two sheriffs. “ This feast (the 
writer continues) costeth ,£400, whereof the mayor payeth £200 
and each of the sheriffs £100. Immediately after dyner they go 
to the church of St. Paule, the men bearynge staff-torches and 
targetts, which torches are lighted when it is late, before they 
come from evenynge prayer.” In 1585, there were children in 
the procession, who personified the city, magnanimity, loyaltv, 
science, the country, and the river Thames; they also represented 
a soldier, a sailor, and nymphs with appropriate speeches. The 
show opened with a Moor on the back of a lynx. On Sir Thomas 
Middleton’s mayoralty, in 1613, the solemnity is described as 
unparalleled for the cost, art, and magnificence of the shows 
pageants, chariots, morning, noon, and night triumphs. 

In 1665, the city pageants, after a discontinuance of about 
fourteen years, were revived. Edmund Gayton, the author of 
the description for that year, says, that “ our metropolis for these 
planetary pageants was as famous and renowned in foreign nations 
as foi theii faith, wealth, and valour. In the show of 1659. nil 
European, an Egyptian, and a Persian, were personated. On 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


189 


Lord Mayor’s day, 1671, the king, queen, and duke of York, and 
most of the nobility, being present, there were sundry shows, 
shapes, scenes, speeches, and songs in parts; and the like in 1672 
and 1673, when the king again graced the triumphs. 

In 1687, the pageants of Sir John Shorter, knt., as Lord Mayor, 
were very splendid. He was of the company of goldsmiths, and 
out of compliment to their patron saint, Dunstan, who was him¬ 
self a goldsmith, they had a pageant representing the miracle of 
Dunstan and the Devil. 

" St. Dunstan, as the story goes, 

Once pull'd the devil by the nose 

V. ith red-hot tongs, which made him roar, 

That he was heard three miles or more.” 

The last Lord Mayor who rode on horseback at his mayoralty 
was Sir Gilbert Heathcote, in the reign of queen Anne. The 
modern exhibitions, bettered as they are by the men in armour, 
have no pretensions to vie with the grandeur of the London 
triumphs. Even Gog and Magog, who were then only made of 
wicker-work and pasteboard, yearly graced the procession, and 
when that eminent annual service was over, remounted their old 
stations in Guildhall, till, by reason of their very great age, old 
time, with his auxiliaries, the city rats and mice, had eaten up 
all their entrails. 

The earliest Lord Mayor’s Pageant on record is the one de¬ 
scribed by Matthew Paris as taking place in 1236, on the occasion 
of the passage of King Henry III., and Eleanor of Provence, 
through the city of Westminster. For further particulars, see 
Fairholt’s Lord Mayor's Pageants , published by the Percy Society. 

FREEDOM OF ALNWICK. 

When a person takes up his freedom in the town of Alnwick, 
he is obliged, by a clause in the charter of that place, to jump into 
an adjacent bog, in which sometimes he must sink to his chin. 
This custom is said to have been imposed by King John, who 
travelling this way, and his horse sinking fast in this hole, took 
this method of punishing the people of this town for not keeping 
the road in better order. 


LONDON CRIES. 

In the time of Henry YI. an antiquary writes, that London cries 
consisted of—fine felt hats and spectacles; peas, strawberries, 
cherries, pepper, saffron, hot sheeps-feet, mackerel, green-peas, ribs 
beef, pie, &c. In the Pepysian library are two very ancient sets 
of cries, cut in wood, with inscriptions; among others are, 
“ Buy my rope of onions, white St. Thomas’s onions; rosemary 


190 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


and bays; bread and meat for poor prisoners ; ends of gold and 
silver ; marking stones; a mat for a bed; maids hang out your 
lights; marrowbones; ells or yards; hand-strings or hand-kercher 
buttons; small coal penny a peck! I have skreens at your desire, 
to keep your butey from the fire,” &c. &c. 

Formerly it was a practice to set the London cries to music, 
retaining their peculiar musical notes. These cries, that have 
been so long famed in the annals of nursery literature, and with¬ 
out which, to the social part of society, London would lose one of 
its peculiar charms, have to the squeamish long been a source of 
complaint; their tender nerves and susceptible ears would have 
every social sound put to silence, and every unlucky wight who 
presumed to earn his bread by the exercise of his lungs sent to 
the treadmill! To please them— 

“ It were a delicate stratagem, to shoe 
A troop of horse with felt,—I’ll put it in proof.” 

Shakspeare. 


MASQUERADES. 

This species of amusement had its origin in Italy, where, ac¬ 
cording to Hall’s Chronicle , they had become fashionable as early 
as the beginning of the 16th century. Of its introduction into Eng¬ 
land, Hall thus speaks: “ On the date of the Epiphanie at night 
(a.d. 1512-13), the king (Henry VIII.) with eleven others were 
disguised after the manner of Italie called a maske, a thing not 
seen afore in England; they were appareled in garments long 
and brode, wroughte all with golde, with visers and cappes of 
golde; and after the banket done, these maskers came in with the 
six gentlemen disguised in Silk” (in all probability the domino of 
more recent times), u barynge staffe torches, and desired the 
ladies to daunce; some were content; and some that knew the 
fashion of it refused, because it was not a thing commonly seen. 
And after tliei danced and commoned together, as the fashion of 
the maskes is, thei took their leave and departed, and so did the 
quene and all the ladies.” The invention of masquerades is 
ascribed to Granacci, who died in 1543. 

ORIGINAL DINNERS. 

In 1609, Christian, Elector of Saxony, defrayed for 1600 guests^ 
who, at the sound of the trumpet, saw the table covered. The 
Elector himself remained at table six hours; and that time no¬ 
thing was done but to contend which of the party should eat the 
most and drink the largest. The custom of feasting was not con¬ 
fined to the great; all ranks participated in the sensual propensity, 
against which sumptuary laws proved wholly unavailing. In 
the town of Munden, in Brunswick, it was ordained that the 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


191 


dinner should not last above three hours, and that even a wedding 
feast should not exceed twenty-four dishes, allowing ten persons 
to every dish. 

LADIES APPEARING AT COURT. 

Anne of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII., and Louis XII., kings 
of France, was the first who introduced the fashion of ladies 
appearing publicly at court. This fashion was introduced much 
later in England, when, even down to the Revolution, women of 
rank never appeared in the streets without a mask. In Scotland 
the veil or plaid continued much longer in fashion, and with 
which every woman was covered. 

SMOKING AND TAKING SNUFF. 

Tobacco is said to have been first brought into England by 
Captain R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake about the year 1586, 
during the reign of Elizabeth. Alehouses are at present licensed 
to deal in tobacco, but it was not so from the beginning; for so 
great an incentive was it thought to drunkenness, that it was 
strictly forbidden to be taken in any alehouses in the reign of 
James I. A pamphlet on the Natural History of Tobacco, in the 
Harleian Miscellany, says, “ The English are said to have had 
their pipes of clay from the Virginians,” who were styled bar¬ 
barians; and the origin of manufacturing tobacco into snuff is 
thus given to the sister kingdom. “ The Irishmen do most com¬ 
monly powder their tobacco, and snuff it up their nostrils.” 

HOWLING AT IRISH FUNERALS. 

The Irish howl at funerals originated from the Roman outcry 
at the decease of their friends, they hoping thus to awaken the 
soul, which they-supposed might lie inactive. The conclamatio 
over the Phoenician Dido, as described by Virgil, is similar to the 
Irish cry. From which it is clear the custom is of Phoenician 
origin. 

GRACE AT MEAT. 

The table was considered by the ancient Greeks as the altar 
of friendship, and held sacred; and they would not partake of 
any meat till they had offered part of it as the first-fruits to their 
gods. The ancient Jews offered up prayers always before meat, 
and from their example the primitive Christians did the same. 

GOOSE ON MICHAELMAS DAY. 

There is a current, but erroneous report, assigning to Queen 
Elizabeth the origin of this custom. 


192 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


The joyful tidings of the defeat of the Spanish armada arrived 
on Michaelmas day, and were communicated to Queen Elizabeth 
whilst at dinner partaking of a goose ; but there is evidence to 
prove that this custom was practised long before the destruction 
of the Spanish armada. Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, traces 
it as far back as the tenth year of the reign of King Edward IV. 

WELSH LEEK AS A BADGE OF HONOUR. 

Upon the first of March King Cadwallo met a Saxon army in 
the field. In order to distinguish his men from their enemies, he, 
from an adjoining field of leeks, placed one in each of their hats; 
and having gained a signal and decisive victory over the Saxon3, 
the leek became the future badge of honour among the Welsh, 
and particularly worn on the 1st of March, or St. David’s day. 

SHAMROCK, THE IRISH BADGE OF HONOUR. 

The wild trefoil Was very highly regarded in the superstitions 
of the ancient Druids, and has still medicinal virtues of a parti¬ 
cular kind accredited to it by the more remote Highlanders of 
Scotland, where it is culled according to the ancient rites. 

“ In the list of plants,” says a Scotch statistical writer, “ must 
be reckoned the seamrog , or the wild trefoil, in great estimation 
of old by the Druids. It is still considered as an anodyne in the 
diseases of cattle; from this circumstance it has derived its 
name, seimh , in the Gaelic, signifying pacific or soothing. When 
gathered, it is plucked with the left hand, The person thus em¬ 
ployed must be silent, and never look back till the business be 
finished.” 

This is the seamrog, or shamrog, worn by Irishmen in their 
hats, as O’Brien says, “ by way of a cross on St. Patrick’s day, 
in memory of this great saint.” It is said, that when St. Patrick 
landed near Wicklow to convert the Irish in 433, the Pagan in¬ 
habitants were ready to stone him; he requested to be heard, 
and endeavoured to explain God to them as the Trinity in Unity, 
but they could not understand him; till plucking a trefoil, or 
shamrog, from the ground, he said, “ Is it not as possible for the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as for these three leaves, to grow 
upon a single stalk ?” “Then,” says Brand, “the Irish were im¬ 
mediately convinced, and became converts to Christianity; and, 
in memory of which event, the Irish have ever since worn the 
shamrog, or shamrock, as a badge of honour.” 

TIIE SCOTTISH THISTLE. 

The origin of the national badge is thus handed down by tra¬ 
dition:—When the Danes invaded Scotland, it was deemed 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


193 


un warlike to attack an enemy in the darkness of night, instead 
of a pitched battle by day; but, on one occasion, the invaders 
resolved to avail themselves of stratagem, and, in order to pre¬ 
vent their tramp from being heard, they marched barefooted. 
They had thus neared the Scottish force unobserved, when a 
Dane unluckily stepped with his foot upon a superbly prickled 
thistle, and uttered a cry of pain, which discovered the assailants 
to the Scots, who ran to their arms, and defeated the foe with 
great slaughter. The thistle was immediately adopted as the 
insignia of Scotland. 

ELECTION RIBBONS. 

These party emblems were first introduced, March 14tli, 1681. 
—The Protestant Intelligencer states, after mentioning the par¬ 
liament that was held at Oxford this year, “ on which occasion 
the representatives of the city of London assembled at Guildhall 
on the 17th of March, for the purpose of commencing their 
journey. Many of the citizens met them there, intending to 
accompany them part of their way, together with others who 
were deputed to go to Oxford as a sort of council to the city 
members. Some of our ingenious London weavers had against 
this day contrived a very fine fancy, that is, a blue satin ribbon, 
having these words plainly and legibly wrought upon it, ‘No 
Popery,’ ‘ No Slavery,’ which, being tied up in knots, were worn 
in the hats of the horsemen who accompanied our members.” 
Such was the origin of wearing ribbons on electioneering occa¬ 
sions. 


PERAMBULATING PARISHES ON ASCENSION DAY. 

This custom is of considerable antiquity. Spelman thinks it 
was derived from the heathens, and that it is an imitation of the 
feast called Terminalia, which was observed in the month of 
February, in honour of the god Terminius, who was supposed to 
preside over bounds and limits, and to punish all unlawful usur¬ 
pations of land. 

In making the parochial perambulations in this country on 
Ascension day, the minister, accompanied by the churchwardens 
and parishioners, used to deprecate the vengeance of God, by a 
blessing on the fruits of the earth, and implore him to preserve 
the rights of the parish. This custom is thus noticed by Withers 
in his Emblems :— 

“ That every man might keep his own possessions, 

Our fathers used in reverent processions 

(With zealous prayers and many a praiseful cheer) 

To walk their parish limits once a year; 

And well-known marks (which sacrilegious hands 
Now cut or break) so border'd out their lands, 

That every one distinctly knew his own, 

And many brawls, now rife, were then unknown.” 


O 





194 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


In Lysons’ Environs of London , in the Churchwarden’s Book 
of Children, there is the following:— 


1670. Spent at perambulation dinner. £3 10 0 

Given to the boys that were whipt. 0 4 0 

Paid for poynts for the boys. 0 2 0 


THE PASSING BELL. 

The passing bell, so called, because the defunct has passed from 
one state to another, owes its origin to an idea of sanctity attached 
to bells by the early Romanists, who believed that the sound of 
these holy instruments of percussion, actually drove the devil 
away from the soul of the departing Christian. 

Durand, who flourished about the end of the twelfth century, 
tells us in his Rationale , “ when any one is dying, bells must be 
tolled, that the people may put up their prayers; twice for a 
woman, and thrice for a man; if for a clergyman, as many times 
as he had orders; and, at the conclusion, a peal on all the bells, 
to distinguish the quality of the person for whom the people are 
to put up their prayers. A bell too must be rung when the 
corpse is conducted to church, and during the bringing it out of 
the church to the grave.” 

“ Come list and hark, the bell doth toll 
For some but now departing soul, 

Whom even now those ominous fowle, 

The bat, the night-jar, or screech owl, 

Lament; hark! I hear the wilde wolfe howle 
In this black night that seems to scowle. 

All these my black book shall enscrole. 

For hark! still still the bell doth toll 
For some but now departing- soul.” 

Rape of Lucrece. 

CHIMES. 

“ How sweet the tuneful bells responsive peal! 

As when at opening morn, the fragrant breeze 
Breathes on the trembling sense of wan disease. 

So piercing to my heart their force I feel! 

“And hark! with lessening cadence now they fall, 

And now, along the white and level tide, 

They fling their melancholy music wide; 

Bidding me many a tender thought recall 

“ Of summer days, and those delightful years, 

When by my native streams, in life’s fair prime, 

The mournful magic of their mingling chime 
First waked my wondering childhood into tears! 

“ But seeming now, when all those days are o’er, 

The sounds of joy once heard, and heard no more.” * 

Besides tlie common way of tolling bells, there is also a ringing, 
which is a kind of chimes used on various occasions in token of 

* Written at Gstend, July 22, 1787. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


195 


joy. This ringing prevails in no country so much as in England, 
where it is a kind of diversion, and, for a piece of money, any 
one may have a peal. On this account it is that England is 
called the “ ringing island.” 

Chimes are something very different, and much more musical; 
there is not a town in all the Netherlands without them, being an 
invention of that country. The chimes at Copenhagen are one 
of the finest sets in all Europe; but the inhabitants, from a per- 
t nacio i lo 1 e for old things, or the badness of their ear, do 
not like them so well as the old ones, which were destroyed by 
a conflagration. 

OUTLAWRY. 

Some may derive the antiquity of Outlawry from Cain, wl.o 
for the murder of his brother, was, as it were, out of the protec¬ 
tion of the law ; or, as the ancient English would say, “ a friendless 
man;” however, although we cannot ascend so high as Cain, 
certain it is, that this kind of punishment is very ancient, for 
Caesar, speaking of the Druids, saith thus—“ Whoever he is that 
obeys not their sentence, they forbid him their sacrifices, which 
is amongst them the most grievous of punishments ; for they 
who are thus interdicted, are accounted in the number of the 
most impious and wicked,—all people shunning them, and refusing 
their conversation, lest they should receive damage by the infec¬ 
tion thereof; nor is justice to be afforded them at their desire, 
nor any honour allowed unto them.” 

Bracton describes the nature of our English outlawry thus :— 
“ When any person is outlawed justly, and according to the 
law of the land, let us see what he sutlers by this his outlawry, 
if after the first summons he dotli not appear. First, therefore, 
be it known, he forfeits his country and the kingdom, and be- 
cometh a banished man, such an one as the English call utlaugh; 
but anciently they had wont to call him ‘a friendless man,’ whereby 
it seemetli he forfeiteth his friends, so that if, after such outlawry 
and expulsion, any one shall willingly give him food, and enter¬ 
tain him, or knowingly converse with him in any sort whatever, 
or shall shelter him and hide him, he is to undergo the same 
punishment as the person outlawed ought to do, which is to lose 
all his goods, and also his life, unless it please the king to be 
more merciful to him,” &c. 

CARVING AT TABLE BY LADIES. 

This custom, Verstegan says, originated among our Saxon 
ancestors, and the title of lady sprung from this office; as laford , 
or loaf giver (now lord), was so called from his maintaining a 
number of dependants; so leaf-dian or loaf-dian , i. e., loaf-server, 
is the origin of lady, she serving it to the guests. 






196 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


GAMMON OF BACON AT EASTER. 

Drake, in liis “Shakspeare and liis Times,” says, the custom 
of eating a gammon of bacon at Easter, still maintained in some 
parts of England, is founded on tlie abhorrence our forefathers 
thought proper to express, in that way, towards the Jews at the 
season of commemorating the resurrection. 


EPPING HUNT. 

Fitzstephen informs us, that the hunting at Epping and round 
London at Easter time, commenced in 1226, when King Henry 
III. confirmed to the citizens of London free warren, or liberty 
to hunt a circuit about their city, in the warren of Staines, Hain- 
liault* forest, &c.; and in ancient times the lord mayor, aldermen, 
and corporation, attended by a due number of their constituents, 
availed themselves of this right of chase in solemn guise. 


PETER PENCE. 

The popular name of an impost otherwise termed “the fee of 
Home originally a voluntary offer by the faithful to the see of 
Home, afterwards a due levied in various amounts from every 
house or family in a country. Peter pence were paid in France, 
Poland, and other countries. In England, this tax was recog¬ 
nised by the Norman laws of William the Conqueror. Edward 
III. discontinued the payment when the popes resided at Avi¬ 
gnon, but it was afterwards revived and finally ceased in the 
reign of Henry VIII. 


NIGHTLY WATCH. 

The curfew bell was commanded by William the Conqueror to 
be nightly rung at eight o’clock, as a warning or command, that 
all people should then put out their fires and lights, and con¬ 
tinued throughout the realm till the time of Henry I., when 
Stow says, “that it followed, by reason of warres within the 
realme, that many men gave themselves up to robbery and mur¬ 
ders in the night.” 

It appears that the city of London was subject to these disorders 
till 1253, when Henry III. commanded watches to be kept in 
the cities and borough towns for the preservation of the peace; 
and further, that if from that time any murder or robbery was 
committed, the town in which it was done should be liable to the 
damages thereof. Such was the origin of the Nightly Watch. 

* What is now called Epping Forest, was formerly a part of the Forest of 
Hainliault. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


197 


PRESENTATION OF LORD MAYOR OF LONDON TO THE LORD 

CHANCELLOR. 

King John granted to the citizens of London a charter, em¬ 
powering them to choose their own mayor, yet by the same 
power they were generally obliged to present him to the king 
for his approbation, or, in his absence, to his justiciary; this 
custom still remaining, he is yearly presented to the lord chancellor, 
which many of the citizens regard as a needless ceremony; ’twill 
not be improper, says Maitland, to acquaint all who are of that 
mind, that this confirming power is so essential, that without it 
a mere stranger could act as well. 


COUNTING OF IIOB-NAILS, &c. 

The year 1235 is memorable for a little city incident, which 
has contrived to transmit its remembrance to our times, by 
means of an annual ceremony at swearing-in the sheriff, September 
30, before the cursitor barons of the exchequer, which is per¬ 
formed with much solemnity by one of the aldermen, in presence 
of the lord mayor, who goes into, and continues in the court 
covered. One Walter le Bruin, a farrier, obtained a grant from 
the crown of a certain spot of ground in the Strand, in the parish 
of Clement Danes, whereon to erect a forge for carrying on his 
business. For this the city was to pay annually an acknow¬ 
ledgment, or quit rent, of six horse-shoes, with the nails apper¬ 
taining, at the King’s Exchequer, Westminster. The forge and 
manufactory exist no longer, but the acknowledgment, after a 
lapse of so many ages, continues still to be paid. 


BONE-FIRES. 

In earlier times they made fires of bones in commemoration of 
John the Baptist, who, it is said, drove away many dragons when 
in the wilderness by the burning of bones—“ of which they have 
a great dislike.” From this circumstance our bone-fires, although 
made of wood, derive their cognomen. 

FEAST OF ASSES. 

The feast of asses in France was held in honour of Balaam’s 
ass, when the clergy, at Christmas, walked in procession, dressed 
so as to represent the prophets. Suppressed early—before 1445. 

HOAXING. 

The first hoax of a modern kind on record was practised by a 
wag in the reign of Queen Anne. It appeared in the papers of 
that time :— 




198 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


“ A well-dressed man rode down the king’s road from Fulham 
at a most furious rate, commanding each turnpike to be thrown 
open, as he "was a messenger conveying the news of the queen’s 
sudden death. The alarm instantly spread into every quarter 
of the city; the trained bands, who were on their parade, desisted 
from their exercise, furled their colours, and returned home with 
their arms reversed. The shopkeepers began to collect their 
sables, when the jest was discovered—not the author of it.” 

GOES OF LIQUOR. 

The tavern called the Queen’s Head, in Duke’s Court, Bow 
Street, was once kept by a facetious individual of the name of 
Jupp. Two celebrated characters, Annesley Shay and Bob 
Todrington, a sporting man (caricatured by old Digliton, and 
-nicknamed by him the “ knowing one,” from his having con¬ 
verted to his own use a large sum of money intrusted to him 
by the noted Dick England, who was compelled to fly the 
country, having shot Mr. Rolls in a duel which had a fatal 
termination), met one evening at the above place, went to the 
bar, and asked for half-a-quartern each, with a little cold water. 
In course of time they drank four-and-twenty, when Shay said 
to the other, “ Now we’ll go.” “ O no! ” replied he, “ we’ll have 
another, and then go.” This did not satisfy the Hibernians, and 
they continued drinking on till three in the morning, when they 
both agreed to go, so that under the idea of going they made a 
long stay, and this was the origin of drinking or calling for 
Goes; but another, determined to eke out the measure his own 
way, used to call for a quartern at a time, and these in the 
exercise of his humour he called stays. 

TARRING AND FEATHERING. 

This custom, which had grown into disuse until just prior to 
the old American war, when it was revived with great avidity to 
the cost of our custom-house officers on the other side of the 
Atlantic, takes its data or origin from the following:—Holinshed 
says, that in the reign of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, it was enacted, 
“ If any man be taken with theft or pickery, and therein con¬ 
victed, he shall have his head polled, and hot pitch poured on his 
pate, and upon that feathers of s<hne pillow or cushion shaken 
aloft, that he may thereby be known as a thief, and at the next 
arrivals of the ships to any land, be put forth of the company to 
seek his adventures, without all hope of return to his fellows.” 

LAW OF SHIPWRECK. 

By the Act of 3d Edward I., cap. 4, and 4th of the same king, 
cap. 2, it is enacted, that if a man, a dog, or a cat, escape alive 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


199 


out of any ship, such ship shall not be deemed a wreck. On the 
6th December, 1824, the ship Dart, of Sunderland, drifted into 
Portsmouth without a soul on board; a live cat, however, being 
found in the cabin, she escaped becoming a droit of the Admiralty, 
and was given in charge of the sheriff, to be delivered to the 
owners. 


SPITAL SERMON. 

This sermon, yearly preached on Easter Monday at Christ 
Church, Christ’s Hospital, derives its name from the priory and 
hospital of our blessed lady, St. Mary Spital, situated on the east 
side of Bishopsgate Street, with fields in the rear, which now 
form the suburb called Spitalfields. This hospital, founded in 
1197, had a large churchyard, with a pulpit cross, from whence 
it was an ancient custom on Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wed¬ 
nesday, for sermons to be preached on the resurrection, before 
the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and others, who sat in a house 
of two stories for the purpose, the Bishop of London and the pre¬ 
lates being above them. In 1594, the pulpit was taken down, and 
a new one set up, and a large house for the governors and 
children of Christ’s Hospital to sit in.* In April 1559, Queen 
Elizabeth came in great state from St. Mary Spital, attended by 
a thousand men in harness, with shirts of mail, and croslets, and 
morris-pikes, and ten great pieces carried through London unto 
the court, with drums, flutes, and trumpets sounding, and two 
morris-dancers, and two white bears in a cart.t The Spital 
sermons were, after the restoration, preached at St. Bride’s, Fleet 
Street, but have been since removed to Christ Church, Newgate 
Street, where they are still preached every Easter Monday and 
Easter Tuesday, before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. 


LION SERMON. 

A merchant of Lon don ,X about two centuries ago, went on a 
voyage to Africa; the ship was wrecked on the coast, and all 
perished save himself. Exhausted, and deeply impressed with 
his melancholy situation, he lay stretched on the shore, when to 
his surprise and fright he saw approaching him an immense 
lion! Petitioning the Almighty to spare his life, he vowed, in 
return for such a boon, to give on his arrival in England a part 
of his wealth to the poor of his parish; likewise, to perpetuate 
his miraculous escape (should it be permitted him), to leave a 
certain sum§ for the preaching of a sermon on the day on which 
it occurred. ' The tradition states, his prayer was heard, the lion 
looked on him and passed him; he shortly after had the gratifi- 

* Stow. t Maitland. 

1 Sir John Gager, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1046. 

§ 20 5 . to the Minister.— 2s. Gd to the Clerk.— Is. to the Sexton. 







200 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


cation to see a vessel approach; he was taken on board, arrived 
in London, and fulfilled his vow. At the parish church of St. 
Catherine Cree, in Leadenhall Street, what is called the Lion 
Sermon is preached on the day of the aforesaid miraculous 
escape. 

“ Mighty monarch of the forest 
Noble'Nature beats through thee; 

All thy actions prove thee honest, 

Courageous, merciful, brave, and free.” 


MAY-POLES. 

The May-pole is up 
Noav give me a cup; 

I’ll drink to the garlands around it; 

But first unto those 
Whose hands did compose 
The glory of fiowers that crown'd it. 

Herrick. 

London in former times abounded with May-poles,—they were 
called shafts. Jeffrey Chaucer, writing of a vain boaster, hath 
these words, alluding to a shaft in Cornhill, near to the church 
of St. Andrew Undershaft. 

“ Right well aloft, and high you bear your head, 
********* 

As you would bear the great shaft of Cornhill.” * 

This shaft, or May-pole, was kept in an alley in the vicinity, 
called Shaft Alley; and on the 1st of May was brought out, 
dressed with flowers and birds’ eggs, and reared up near unto 
the church, amid the shoutings and rejoicings of the lookers-on. 

At Gisor’s Hall (Gerard’s) also, was a long shaft, and which 
was supposed by the ignorant to be the staff of one Geraldus a 
giant, but which in fact was nothing more than a May-pole, that 
was wont to be yearly brought out on the 1st of May, and placed 
before the door.t 

A processional engraving, by Vertue, among the prints of the 
Antiquarian Society, represents a May-pole at a door or two 
.westward, beyond 

“ Where Catherine Street descends into the Strand.” 

Washington Irving says, “ I shall never forget the delight I 
felt on first seeing a May-pole. It was on the banks of the Dee, 
close by the picturesque old bridge that stretches across the river 
from the quaint little city of Chester. I already had been car¬ 
ried back into former days by the antiquities of that venerable 
place; the examination of which is equal to turning over the 
pages of a black letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in 
* Formerly Cornhill extended thus far. f Stow. 




TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


201 


Froissart. The May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream 
completed the illusion. My fancy adorned it with wreaths of 
flowers, and peopled the green bank with all the dancino- revelry 
of May-day. 

“ The mere sight of this May-pole gave a glow to my feelings, 
and spread a charm over the country for the rest of the day ; and 
as I traversed a part of the fair plains of Cheshire, and the beau¬ 
tiful borders of Wales, and looked from among swelling hills down 
a long green valley, through which ‘ the Beva wound its wizard 
stream,’ my imagination turned all into a perfect Arcadia. One 
can readily imagine what a gay scene it must have been in jolly 
old London, when the doors were decorated with flowering 
branches, when every hat was decked with hawthorn; and Robin 
Hood, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, the Morris-dancers, and all the 
other fantastic masks and revellers, were performing their antics 
about the May-pole in every part of the city.” 

The May-pole is of Roman origin, and formed part of the games 
of Flora; but it is mere conjecture as to the period when it was 
first introduced into this country. 

WHIPPING OF APPLE-TREES. 

There are various customs still prevalent in honour of the 
goddess Pomona, whom it was said presided over fruit. Among 
others, is that of whipping the apple-trees, in order that they may 
produce a plentiful crop. This custom is still observed at Wark- 
ingham, in Surrey. Early in the spring the boys go round to 
several orchards in the parish, and having performed the cere¬ 
mony, they carry a little bag to the house, when the good woman 
gives them some meal or oatmeal. 

ETON MONTEM. 

The triennial custom of the Eton scholars parading to Salt-hill, 
and distributing salt, originated in the early days of monkish 
superstition, when the friars used to sell their consecrated salt 
for medical purposes. The Montem was abolished in 1847, on 
the representation of the Master of the College to Her Majesty 
and the government, that its celebration was attended with cer¬ 
tain inconveniences. Its abolition was, however, vigorously 
opposed by many influential persons who had been educated 
at Eton. 

SWEARING BY BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE. 

This originated in the manner of the Pope’s blessing the world 
yearly, from the balcony of St. Peter’s at Rome. He holds a wax 
taper lighted, a cardinal reads a curse on all heretics, and no 
sooner is the last word uttered, than the bell tolls, and the Pope 





202 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


changes the curse into a blessing, throwing down his taper among 
the people. 

EASTER. 

Easter-day is distinguished by its peculiar name through our 
Saxon ancestors, who at this season of the year held a great 
festival, in honour of the goddess Eastor , probably the astarte of 
the Eastern nations. Others think it is so called from the Saxon 
Oster , to rise, being the day of Christ’s resurrection. The French 
call this festival paques , derived from the Greek pascha, and 
Hebrew pesech, i. e., passover, and whence we have the English 
paschal, as applied to the Lamb in the last supper. 

The earliest possible day whereon Easter can happen is the 
22nd of March. It fell on that day in 1818, and cannot happen 
on that day till the year 2285. The latest possible day whereon 
Easter can happen is the 25th of April. 

“ Going a mothering,” is from the Roman Catholic custom of 
going to the mother church on Mid lent Sunday, to make offerings 
at the high altar; and that custom of the Roman church is derived 
from the hilaria , or heathen festival, celebrated by the ancient 
Romans, in honour of the mother of the gods, on the ides of March. 
—The offerings at the altars were in their origin voluntary, and 
became church property. At length the parish priests com¬ 
pounded with the church at a certain sum, and these voluntary 
donations of the people have become the dues known by the name 
of Easter offerings. 

TANSEY PUDDING ON EASTER DAY. 

The eating of tansey pudding at Easter, and particularly on 
Easter Sunday, is derived from the Romish church. Tansey 
symbolized the bitter herbs used by the Jews at their paschal; 
but that the people might show a proper abhorrence of the Jews, 
they ate also from a gammon of bacon at Easter, as many still do 
in several country places at this season, without knowing from 
whence this practice is derived. 

CHANTING IN CATHEDRALS. 

The practice of Singing in Antiphony, i. e., by change or course, 
now on one side and now on the other, which is still preserved 
in cathedrals, was the practice of the churches in the earliest 
ages of Christianity, and was no doubt derived from the usages 
of the Jewish ritual.* In the reign of Theodosius, towards the 
latter end of the fourth century, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, 

* St. Ignatius, who was a disciple of St. John, is generally said to be the 
first who suggested to the Jewish Christians the method of singing psalms 
and hymns alternately, dividing the singers into two bands or choirs placed 
on opposite sides. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


203 


introduced into the churches at that place what is called the 
Ambrosian chant, in order to rectify the practice of ecclesiastical 
chanting, which was then falling into great confusion; and St. 
Augustine, when speaking of his first entrance into the church 
there after his conversion, says—“ The voices flowed in at my 
ears, truth was distilled in my heart, and the affection of piety 
overflowed in sweet tears of joy.” That splendidly sublime com¬ 
position, the Te Deum , is generally attributed to St. Ambrose, 
though the Benedictine editors of his works do not describe it 
as his ; whilst by Cave and Stillingfleet it is said to have been 
composed by him in conjunction with St. Augustine ; and Usher 
ascribes it to Nicentius. The method of singing and chanting 
was, according to Eusebius, first established by St. Ambrose at 
Antioch, where he had long resided. 

SALIQUE LAW IN FRANCE. 

The Salique law, or the ancient and fundamental law of the 
kingdom of France, usually supposed to have been made by 
Pharamond, or at least by Clovis, in virtue whereof males are 
only to inherit. Du Haillan, after a critical examination, declares 
it to have been an expedient of Philip the Long, in 1316, for the 
exclusion of the daughter of Lewis Hutin from inheriting the 
crown. 

Father Daniel, on the other hand, maintains, that it is quoted 
by authors more ancient than Philip the Long, and that Clovis 
is the real author of it. This law has not any particular regard 
to the crown of France: it only imports, in general, that in Salic 
land no part of the inheritance shall fall to any female, but the 
whole to the male sex. By Salic lands, or inheritances, were 
anciently denoted among us, all lands, by whatever tenure held, 
whether noble or base, from the succession whereto women were 
excluded by the Salic law; for they were by it admitted to 
inherit nothing but movables and purchases wherever there 
were any males. 

COIN OF DORT. 

Upon the coin of Dort, or Dordrecht, in Holland, is a cow, 
under which is sitting a milkmaid. The same representation is 
in relievo on the pyramid of an elegant fountain in that beautiful 
town. Its origin is from the following historical fact:—When ’ 
the united provinces were struggling for their liberty, two beau¬ 
tiful daughters of a rich farmer, on their way to the town with 
milk, observed, not far from their path, several Spanish soldiers 
concealed behind some hedges. The patriotic maidens pretended 
not to have seen any thing, pursued their journey, and, as soon 
as they arrived in the city, insisted upon an admission to the 
burgomaster, who had not yet left his bed; they were admitted, 





204 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


and related wliat they had discovered. He assembled the council, 
measures were immediately taken, the sluices were opened, and 
a number of the enemy lost their lives in the water. The magis¬ 
trates, in a body, honoured the farmer with a visit, where they 
thanked his daughters for the act of patriotism which saved the 
town; they afterwards indemnified him fully for the loss he sus¬ 
tained from the inundation, and the most distinguished young 
citizens, vied with each other, who should be honoured with the 
hands of those virtuous Milkmaids. 

ARMS OF TIIE COBBLERS OF FLANDERS. 

The emperor Charles V., being curious to know the sentiments 
of his meanest subjects concerning himself and his administration, 
often went incog., and mixed himself in such companies and con¬ 
versations as he thought proper. One night, at Brussels, his 
boot requiring immediate mending, he was directed to a cobbler. 
Unluckily, it happened to be St. Crispin’s Day, or holiday, and, 
instead of finding the cobbler inclined for work, he was in the 
height of his jollity among his acquaintances. The emperor ac¬ 
quainted him with what he wanted, and offered him a handsome 
gratuity. “ What, friend ? ” says the fellow, “ do you know no 
better than to ask one of our craft to work on St. Crispin'? Was 
it Charles himself, I’d not do a stitch for him now; but if you’ll 
come in and drink St. Crispin, do, and welcome: we are as merry 
as the emperor can be.” The emperor accepted the offer: but 
while he was contemplating their rude pleasure, instead of join¬ 
ing in it, the jovial host thus accosts him. “ What, I suppose 
you are some courtier politician or other, by that contemplative 
phiz; but be you who, or what you will, you are heartily wel¬ 
come : drink about, here’s Charles the Fifth’s health.” “ Then 
you love Charles the Fifth ?” replied the emperor. “ Love him!” 
says the son of Crispin; “ ay, ay, I love his long-nosesliip well 
enough; but I should love him much better, would he but tax 
us a little less; but what have we to do with politics ? round with 
the glasses, and merry be our hearts.” After a short stay, the 
emperor took his leave, and thanked the cobbler for his hospi¬ 
table reception. “That,” cried he, “you are welcome to; but I 
would not have dishonoured St. Crispin to-day, to have worked 
for the emperor.” Charles, pleased with the good-nature and 
' humour of the man, sent for him next morning to court. You 
must imagine his surprise to see and hear his late guest was his 
sovereign: he feared his joke upon his long nose must be punished 
with death. The emperor, however, thanked him for his hospi¬ 
tality, and, as a reward for it, bade him ask for what he most 
desired, and take the whole night to settle his surprise and his 
ambition. Next day he appeared, and requested that, for the 
future, the cobblers of Flanders might bear for their arms, a boot 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


205 


with the emperor's crown upon it. That request was granted, and, 
as his ambition was so moderate, the emperor bade him make 
another. “ If,” says he, “ I am to have my utmost wishes, com¬ 
mand that, for the future, the Company of Cobblers shall take 
place of the Company of Shoemakers.” It was, accordingly, so 
ordained; and, to this day, there is to be seen a chapel in Flan¬ 
ders adorned with a boot and imperial crown on it: and in all 
processions, the Company of Cobblers take precedence of the 
Company of Shoemakers. 


SELKIRK ARMS. 

A singular custom is observed at Selkirk, on the conferring of 
the freedom of-that borough. Four or five bristles, such as are 
used by shoemakers, are attached to the seal of the burgesses’ 
tickets. These the new-made burgess must dip in his wine, in 
token of respect for the “ Soulters of Selkirk.” This ceremony is 
on no account dispensed with. The ancient and received tra¬ 
dition affirms, that the Soulters of Selkirk distinguished them¬ 
selves in the battle of Flodden, eighty in number, and, headed by 
the town-clerk, they joined their monarch on his entry into Eng¬ 
land. James, pleased with the appearance of this gallant troop, 
knighted the leader, William Brydom, upon the field of battle, 
from which few of the men of Selkirk were destined to return. 
They distinguished themselves in the conflict, and were almost 
all slain. The few survivors, on their return home, found by the 
side of Lady-Wood-Edge the corpse of a female, wife to one of 
their fellow comrades, with a child sucking at her breast. In 
memory of this last event, continues the tradition, the present 
arms of the burgh bear a female with a child in her arms, and 
seated on a sarcophagus, decorated with the Scottish lion. 

LONDON ARMS. 

The dagger which is quartered in the London arms, was granted 
by Richard II., in commemoration of Sir William Walworth, 
who, having felled Wat Tyler to the ground with his mace, 
dispatched him afterwards with his dagger. The original weapon 
may be seen in the hand of the statue of Sir William Walworth, 
in Fishmongers’ Hall. 

ABLUTIONS OF THE ROMANS ON THE FIRST OF APRIL. 

The Romans on the first of April abstained from pleading causes, 
and the ladies, in particular, performed ablutions under myrtle 
trees, crowned themselves with its leaves, and offered sacri¬ 
fices to Yenus. This custom originated in a mythological story, 
that, as Venus was drying her wetted hair by a river side, she 
was perceived by Satyrs, whose gaze confused her: 

“ But soon with myrtles she her beauties veil’d, 

From whence this annual custom was entail’d.”— Ovid. 




206 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ORIGIN OF FAIRS. 

A fair is a solemn or greater sort of market, granted to any 
town or city by privilege, for the more speedy and commodious 
providing of such things as the subject needeth. Both the Eng¬ 
lish and the French word for fairs seem to come from ferice, 
because it is incident to a fair, that persons shall be privileged 
from being arrested or molested in it from any other debt than 
that contracted in the fair, or at least was promised to be paid 
there. 

Fairs were first occasioned by the resort of people to the Feast 
of Dedication; and therefore, in most places, the fairs by old 
custom were held on the same day with the wake or festival of 
the saint to whom the church was dedicated, and for the same 
reason kept it in the churchyard. 

When bishops and abbots observed that crowds of people 
assembled to celebrate the festivities of their patron saints, they 
applied to the crown for charters to hold fairs at those times, for 
the accommodation of strangers, and with a view to increase their 
own revenues by the tolls which their charters authorized them 
to levy at these fairs. Hence the multitude of attendants in¬ 
creased, some of whom were actuated by religious, and others by 
commercial views. 

Our ancestors were particularly anxious to make fairs useful 
to the public, and not, as many suppose, a public nuisance. Fairs 
are not to be kept longer than the time allowed, on pain of being 
seized into the king’s hands. No merchant is to sell goods and 
merchandise in a fair after it is ended, under the penalty of for¬ 
feiting double the value of the goods so sold. One-fourth goes 
to the prosecutor, and the rest to the king : 5 Edw. III., cap. 13. 
The citizens of London could not carry their goods to any fair 
or market out of London before 3 Henry VII., cap. 9, but by 
that statute they can take their merchandise to any market or 
fair in England. 

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. 

Stow says, that “ to the priory of St. Bartholomew, king 
Henry II. granted the privilege of a faire, to bee kept yeerly at 
Bartholomewtide for three daies, to wit, the eve, the day, and 
the next morrow, to which the clothiers of England and drapers 
of London repaired, and had their bootlies and standings within 
the churchyard of this priory, closed in with walls and gates, 
locked every night, and watched for safety of men’s goods and 
wares; a court of piepoudres was daily during the faire holden, 
for debts and contracts. But,” continues Stow, “ notwithstanding 
all proclamations of the prince, and also the act of parliament, in 
place of bootlies within this churchyard (only letten out in the 
faire time, and closed up all the yeere after), bee many large 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


207 


houses builded, and the north wall towards Long Lane taken 
downe, a number of tenements are there erected, for such as will 
give great rents.” “ The forrainers,” he adds, “ were licenced for 
three daies, the freemen so long as they would, which was sixe 
or seven daies.”* 

This was the origin of Bartholomew Fair, over which the 
charter of Henry II. gave the mayor and aldermen criminal 
jurisdiction during its continuance. This Fair can now hardly 
be said to exist, as it consists of only a few toy stalls and fruit 
barrows. 


LADY HOLLANDS’ MOB. 

This multitude, composed of the most degraded characters of 
the metropolis, was accustomed to knock at the doors, and ring 
the bells, with loud shouting and vociferation; and they often 
committed gross outrages on persons and property. The year 
1822 was the last year in which they appeared in any alarming 
force, and then the inmates of the houses they assailed, or before 
which they paraded, were aroused and kept in terror by their 
violence. In Skinner Street, especially, they rioted undis¬ 
turbed until between three and four in the morning: at one 
period that morning, their number was not less than 5,000, but it 
varied as parties went off, or came in, to and from the assault 
of other places. 

It has been supposed that this mob first arose, and has been 
continued, in celebration of a verdict obtained by a Mr. Holland, 
which freed the fair from toll; but this is erroneous. It may be 
traced as far back as the Commonwealth, when the ruling powers, 
in an attempt to suppress the fair, were defeated by the Holland 
Interest. They first assemble in Cloth Fair, at the Hand and 
Shears. 

HORN FAIR. 

At the pleasant village of Charlton, on the north side of Black- 
heath, about eight miles from London, a fair is held annually on 
St. Luke’s day. It is called Horn Fair, from the custom of carry¬ 
ing Horns at it formerly, and the frequenters still wearing them! 
Upon taking the air down the river (from London), on the left hand 
lies Batcliffe, a considerable suburb. On the opposite shore is 
fixed a long pole, with Ram's Horns upon it, the intention of which 
was vulgarly said to be a reflection upon wilful and contented 
cuckolds, f An old newspaper states, that it was formerly a 
custom for a procession to go from some of the inns in Bishops- 
gate Street, in which were a king, a queen, a miller, a counsellor, 
&c., and a great number of others, with horns in their hats, to 

* Bartholomew Fair was limited in 1750 to three days, besides the pro¬ 
clamation day. 

t Hentzner. 




SOS 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Charlton, where they went round the church three times. This 
was accompanied by so many indecencies on Blaekheath, such as 
the whipping of females with furze, &c., that it gave rise to the 
proverb, “ All is fair at Horn fair.”* Others say, the horn-bear¬ 
ing at this fair, may be conjectured to have originated from the 
symbol accompanying the figure of St. Luke ; as he is represented 
in the act of writing, with an ox or cow by his side, whose horns 
are conspicuous. 

PECKHAM FAIR. 

Peckham is said to be only a continuation of Camberwell, and 
not a district fair; yet there is a tradition, that king John, hunt¬ 
ing there, killed a stag, and was so well pleased with his sport, 
that he granted the inhabitants a charter for a fair. It may be 
inferred from the “ right merrie” humour of this monarch at the 
close of his sport, that it was somewhat in different style to that 
of Henry V.; for he, “ in his beginning, thought it meere scofferie 
to pursue auie fallow deere with houndes or greihounds, but sup¬ 
posed himselfe always to have done a sufficient act when he had 
tired them by his own travell on foot.”— Ilollinshed. 

MAY FAIR. 

The locality adjacent to the west end of Piccadilly, derives its 
name from a celebrated fair as early as the reign of Charles II. 
held here, which commenced on the first of May, and from whence 
it was called May Fair. 

Mr. Carter, the antiquary, says, in a communication to his 
valued friend, the venerable Sylvanus Urban, and which is dated 
March 6th, 1816:—“ Fifty years have passed away since this place 
of amusement was at its highest attraction: the spot where the 
fair was held still retains the name of May Fair, and exists in 
much the same state as at the above period: for instance, Shep¬ 
herd’s Market, and houses surrounding it, on the north and east 
sides, with White Horse Street, Shepherd’s Court, Sun Court, 
Market Court. Westwards, an open space extending to Tyburn 
(now Park Lane), since built upon, in Chapel Street, Shepherd’s 
Street, Market Street, Hertford Street, &c.; southwards, the 
noted Ducking Pond, house, and gardens, since built upon, in a 
large riding-school, Carrington Street (the noted Kitty Fisher 
lived in this street),” <Scc. He then proceeds to enumerate the 
amusements of the fair, such as dramatic performances, duck¬ 
hunting, fire-eating, sausage-eating, prize-fighting and cudgeling, 
ass-races, bull-baiting, grinning for a hat, running for a shift, and 
various other amusements, which the Londoners in those days 
amused themselves with. This Fair was finally abolished in the 
reign of George III., when George, sixth Earl of Coventry, then a 

* Brand. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


209 


resident in Piccadilly, disturbed with, the riots and uproar of the 
place, procured its abolition. 

STOURBRIDGE FAIR. 

Fuller relates, Stourbridge Fair is so called from Stour, a little 
rivulet (on both sides whereof it is kept) on the east of Cambridge, 
whereof this original is reported. A clothier of Kendal, a town 
characterised to be lanificii gloria et industria prcecellens, casually 
wetting his cloth in water in his passage to London, exposed it 
there to sale on cheap terms, as the worse for wetting; and yet, 
it seems, saved by the bargain. Next year he returned again, 
with some other of his townsmen, proffering drier and dearer cloth 
to be sold; so that within a few years hither came a confluence 
of buyers, sellers, and lookers-on, which are the three principles 
of a fair. 

In memoria thereof, Kendal men challenge some privilege in 
that place, annually choosing one of the town to be chief, before 
whom an antic sword was carried, with some mirthful solemnities, 
disused of late, since these sad times, which put men’s minds into 
more serious employment. This was about 1417. 

ASTLEY’S PRIZE WHERRY. 

Formerly, Philip Astley, the celebrated proprietor of the 
theatre called after him, was accustomed to give fire-works on 
our late venerable monarch’s birthday, from barges moored in 
the centre of the Thames, off Stangate, when the performances 
of the theatre were over. An accident, however, happening on 
one occasion, and many lives being lost, they were discontinued, 
and a Prize Wherry given away every anniversary, till a year or 
so after Mr. Astley’s death, when the old custom was discon¬ 
tinued. 

DOGGETT’S COAT AND BADGE. 

The first of August has long been famed for the rowing match 
for “ Doggett’s Coat and Badgeso called from Thomas Doggett, 
the actor, who died in 1721. He left a sum of money, vested in 
the Fishmongers’ Company, for the annual purchase of a water¬ 
man’s coat and silver badge, to be rowed for on the first of August 
by young watermen who had finished their apprenticeship, be¬ 
twixt Old Swan Stairs, London Bridge, and the Old Swan at 
Chelsea. Such is the origin of this annual custom. 

RIDING THE BLACK LAD. 

A singular custom prevails at Ashton- under-Lyne, on Easter 
Monday. Every year, on that day, the rude figure of a man, 

p 




210 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


made of an old suit of clothes stuffed with rags, hay, &c., is car¬ 
ried on a horse through all the streets. The people who attend 
it call at every public-house, for the purpose of begging liquor 
for its thirsty attendants, who are always numerous. During its 
progress, the figure is shot at from all parts. When the journey 
is finished, it is tied to the market cross, and the shooting is con¬ 
tinued till it is set on fire, and falls to the ground. 

This custom, it is said, originated with one of the Ashetons, 
who possessed a considerable landed property in this part of Lan¬ 
cashire. He was Vice-Chancellor to Henry VI., who exercised 
great severity on his own lands, and established the gool or guld 
riding. He is said to have made his appearance on Easter Mon¬ 
day, clad in black armour, and on horseback, followed by a nume¬ 
rous train, for the purpose of claiming the penalties arising from 
the neglect of farmers clearing their corn of “the carr gulds.”* 
The tenants looked upon this visit with horror, and tradition has 
still perpetuated the prayer that was offered for a deliverance 
from his power:— 

“ Sweet Jesu, for thy mercy’s sake, 

And for thy bitter passion; 

Save us from the axe of the Tower, 

And from Sir Kalph of Asheton.” 

' It is alleged, that on one of his visits on Easter Monday, he 
was shot as he was riding down the principal street, and that 
the tenants took no trouble to find out the murderer, but entered 
into a subscription, the interest of which was to make an effigy 
to his memory. At the present day, however, the origin is ne ver 
thought of, and the money is derived from publicans, whose 
interests it is to keep up the custom. 

RIDING STANG. 

This is a custom peculiar to the north of England; its origin, 
however, is uncertain. The Stang is a Cowl-staff; the Cowl is a 
water vessel, borne by two persons on the Cowl -staff, which is a 
stout pole whereon the vessel hangs. “ Where’s the Cowl-staff?” 
cries Ford’s wife, when she purposes to get Falstaff into a large 
buck-basket, with two handles; the Cowl-staff, or Stang, is pro¬ 
duced, and being passed through the handles, the fat knight is 
borne off by two of Ford’s men. A writer in the Gentleman’s 
Magazine, 1791, says, that “in Westmoreland and Cumberland, 
on the first of January, multitudes assemble early in the morning 
with baskets and Stangs, and whoever does not join them, whether 
inhabitant or stranger, is immediately mounted across the Stang, 
and carried, shoulder height, to the next public-house, where 
sixpence liberates the prisoner.” 

* Corn Marygold. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


211 


Hiding the Stang is adopted in Yorkshire among the lower 
orders, on the discovery of any frailty on the side of°eitlier man 
or wife. A stang is then procured, on which “a good-natured 
friend” mounts, and is borne through the streets in the dusk of 
the evening, on the shoulders of two men, preceded by a man 
carrying a lantern. At every fifty yards or so, they make a 
halt, when the exalted personage roars out somewhat similar to 
the following:— 

“ Good neighbours attend, while I you harangue, 

’Tis neither for your sake, nor my sake, 

That I ride the Stang. 

But it is for the wife of Oliver Gray 
That I ride the Stang.” 

This oration being concluded, the mob hurrahs, and after 
repeating it in different places, proceed to the residence of the 
frail one, where they conclude with hootings and jeerings, and 
then disperse. 


ROAST PIG! 

Elia maintains, that of all the delicacies in the whole eatable 
world, Roast Pig is the most delicious and delicate. “ I speak,” 
he says, “ not of your grown porkers, things between pig and 
pork, those hobydehoys, but a young and tender suckling under 
a moon old, guiltless as yet of the stye, with his voice as not yet 
broken, but something between a childish treble and a grumble, 
the mild forerunner, or proeludium of a grunt.” 

Elia quotes from a Chinese MS., that roast pig, like a great 
many other important discoveries, was purely accidental, as 
follows, viz.,—“ The swineherd, Hoti, having gone out into the 
woods one morning, as his manner was, to collect mast for his 
hogs, left his cottage in the care of his eldest son, Bo-bo, a great 
lubberly boy, who, being fond of playing with fire, as younkers 
of his age commonly are, let some sparks escape into a bundle of 
straw, which, kindling quickly, spread the conflagration over 
every part of their poor mansion, till it was reduced to ashes. 
Together with the cottage (a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a 
building, you may think it), what was of much more importance, 
a fine litter of new-farrowed pigs, no less than nine in number, 
perished. China pigs have been esteemed a luxury all over the 
East, from the remotest period that we read of. Bo-bo was in 
the utmost consternation, as you may think, not so much for the 
sake of the tenement, which his father and he could easily build up 
again with a few dry branches, and the labour of an hour or two, 
at any time, as for the loss of the pigs. While he was thinking 
what he should say to his father, and wringing his hands over 
the smoking remnants of one of those untimely sufferers, an odour, 
assailed his nostrils, unlike any scent which he had before expe¬ 
rienced. What could it proceed from ? not from the burnt cottage J 




212 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


he had smelt that smell before: indeed, this was by no means the 
first accident of the kind which had occurred through the negli¬ 
gence of this unlucky young firebrand. Much less did it resemble 
that of any known herb, weed, or flower. A premonitory moisten¬ 
ing at the same time overflowed his nether lip. He knew not 
what to think. He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there 
were any signs of life in it. He burnt his fingers, and to cool 
them, he applied them, in his booby fashion, to his mouth. Some 
of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come away with his fingers, 
and for the first time in his life (in the world’s life indeed, for 
before him no man had known it), he tasted —crackling ! Again 
he felt and fumbled at the pig. It did not burn him so much 
now, still he licked his fingers from a sort of habit. The truth, 
at length, broke into his slow understanding, that it was the pig 
that smelled so, and the pig that tasted so delicious; and, sur¬ 
rendering himself up to the newborn pleasure, he fell to tearing 
up whole handfuls of the scorched skin with the flesh next it, and 
was cramming it down his throat in his beastly fashion, when his 
sire entered, amid the smoky rafters, armed with a retributory 
cudgel, and finding how affairs stood, began to rain blows upon 
the young rogue’s shoulders, as thick as hailstones, which Bo-bo 
heeded not, any more than if they had been flies. The tickling 
pleasure which he experienced in his lower regions, had rendered 
him quite callous to any inconveniences he might feel in those 
remote quarters. His father might lay on, but he could not beat 
him from his pig. Bo-bo, in the afternoon, regardless of his 
father’s wrath, and with his scent wonderfully sharpened since 
morning, soon raked out another pig, and fairly rending it asunder, 
thrust the lesser half by main force into the fists of Ho-ti; still 
shouting out, ‘ Eat, eat, eat the burnt pig, father: only taste ; O 
Lord!’ with suchlike barbarous ejaculations, cramming all the 
while as if he would choke. The narrative relates, that Ho-ti 
trembled every joint while he grasped the abominable thing, 
wavering whether he should not put his son to death for an 
unnatural young monster, when the crackling scorched his fingers, 
as it had done his son’s, and applying the same remedy to them, 
he in his turn tasted some of its flavour, which, make what sour 
mouths he would for a pretence, proved not altogether displeas¬ 
ing to him. In conclusion (for the manuscript here is a little 
tedious), both father and son fairly sat down to the mess, and 
never left off till they had dispatched all that had remained of 
the litter. Bo-bo was strictly enjoined not to let the secret escape, 
for the neighbours would certainly have stoned them for a couple 
of abominable wretches, who could think upon improving the 
good meat which God had sent them. Nevertheless, strange 
stories got about. It was observed, Ho-ti’s cottage was burnt 
down now, more frequently than ever. Nothing but fires from 
this time forward. Some would break out in broad day, others 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


213 


in tlie night-time. As often as the sow farrowed, so sure was the 
house of Ho-ti to be in a blaze; and Ho-ti himself, which was the 
more remarkable, instead of chastising his son, seemed to grow 
more indulgent to him than ever. At length they were watched, 
the terrible mystery discovered, and father and son summoned to 
take their trial at Pekin, then an inconsiderable assize-towm. 

“Evidence was given, the obnoxious food itself produced in court, 
and verdict about to be pronounced, when the foreman of the 
jury begged that some of the burnt pig, of which the culprits 
stood accused, might be handed into the jury box. He handled 
it, and they all handled it, and burning their fingers, as Bo-bo 
and his father had done before them, and nature prompting to 
each of them the said remedy, against the face of all the facts, and 
the clearest charge which judge had ever given—to the surprise 
of the whole court, townsfolk, strangers, reporters, and all present; 
without leaving the box, or any manner of consultation whatever, 
they brought in a simultaneous verdict of Not Guilty. 

“ The judge, who was a shrewd fellow, winked at the manifest 
iniquity of the decision; and when the court was dismissed, went 
privily, and bought up all the pigs that could be had for love or 
money. In a few days his lordship’s town-house was observed to 
be on fire. The thing took wing, and now there was to be seen 
fires in every direction. Fuel and pigs grew enormously dear all 
over the district. The insurance offices, one and all, shut up shop. 
People built slighter and slighter every day, until it was feared 
that the very science of architecture would in no long time be 
lost to the world. Thus this custom of firing houses continued, 
till in process of time, says the manuscript, a sage arose, like our 
Locke, who made a discovery, that the fiesh of swine, or indeed 
of any other animal, might be cooked (burnt, as they called it), 
without the necessity of consuming a whole house to dress it. 
They commenced with a gridiron ; then came the string and the 
spit. By such slow degrees, continues the manuscript, do the 
most useful, and seemingly the most obvious arts, make their way 
among mankind!” 

COUNSELLORS’ FEES. 

Counsellors’ fees were not known till the reign of our Edward 
III. The counsellors up to that period were considered as hold¬ 
ing honorary situations. It is true, they had a certain stipend 
from the crown, but it was “ no cure, no pay,” as regarded their 
client. 

Up to the reign alluded to, the king generally presided (espe¬ 
cially Edward I., who was called our English Justinian) in the 
King’s Bench;* hence the honour of pleading before the sove¬ 
reign was considered in a measure equivalent to a golden fee. 
It was at the latter end of this monarch’s reign, that giving fees 

* See origin of term Banco Regis. 





214 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


was first practised. The custom, however, had prevailed long 
before in other countries. The translator of the Hedaya (a com¬ 
mentary on the Mussulman laws), in his preliminary discourse, 
mentions, among the most celebrated lawyers of India (native), 
one Aboo Yoosaf, who flourished about a.d. 750. He not only 
acquired a high degree of fame by his legal knowledge, but also 
amassed a very considerable fortune in the space of a few years. 
He is reported to have been a person of great acuteness, ready 
wit, and prompt in expedients; of which a remarkable instance 
is recorded in the Negaristan, whereby he obtained, in one night, 
fees to the amount of 50,000 gold denars, at a round computation, 
.£20,000! What would some of our celebrated lawyers say to 
this'? Their paltry fees of two or three hundred guineas, would 
have been mere drops in the bucket of Aboo Yoosaf. 

« DE COUECY PRIVILEGE. 

The privilege which this family enjoy, of standing before the 
king covered, was granted, it is said, by king John, in 1203; in 
consequence of one of that family having vanquished a foreign 
knight, who had challenged every court in Europe, and up to 
that period had carried off every laurel. 

COURTING ON SATURDAY NIGHTS. 

Even in cities, amid the more busy haunts of men, on a Saturday 
evening we toast “ Sweethearts and Wives,” and this arose out 
of the country countings on the night of the same day. It was 
an ancient practice to cease from all servile labour at three 
o’clock on Saturday afternoon, and to attend evening prayers 
preparatory for the ensuing Sabbath. This vigil otiered a 
convenient opportunity for courting, which custom continued 
after religious observances had ceased. 

WILLS. 

Roman Wills were sealed by seals applied after they had 
pierced the deeds, and had passed the linen envelope three times 
through the holes, a method established in the time of Nero 
against forgers, and adopted in Germany and Gaul, where it 
remained till the middle age. Outside the will, were written 
the names of those who had affixed their seals. Upon the first 
page, or left hand tablet, were written the names of the principal 
heirs; upon the second, or right hand tablet, the names of the 
legatees. To this Horace alludes. The Greek wills were signed 
and sealed in the presence of the magistrate. Cicero shews°ho\v 
easy of detection were the Roman testamentary tablets. Anglo- 
Saxon wills were written on three copies, each to match, like a 
tally, and after being read over in the presence of various 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


215 


persons, were severally consigned to separate custodies, and this 
custom continued to the 15th and 16th centuries; for then Lord 
Maurice Berkeley, before he went abroad, left three several wills 
in the custody of three several friends, lest any one should be lost. 
Du Cange mentions wills written on wood or bark; the latter 
in 699. Church chests were the depositaries of wills. From the 
Norman Conquest, they had been generally written in Latin; 
but in the reign of Edward the Third, English was used. Wills 
were made so far back as the reign of Henry I. (says another 
writer), in 1100; there was no law, however, to make them 
binding. Wills to devise lands, were first established by law in 
the reign of Henry YIII., and universally so, as to all real and 
movable property, at the Restoration. 

The first will of a Sovereign of England on record, is that of 
Richard II., in 1399. There is little doubt but wills originated 
with the Egyptians, although not used in Europe till ages after. 

MOURNING. 

Mourning, among the ancients, was expressed by very different 
signs, as by tearing their clothes, wearing sackcloth, laying aside 
crowns, and other ensigns of honour; thus Plutarch, in his life of 
Cato, relates, that from the time of his leaving the city with 
Pompey, he neither shaved his head, nor, as usual, wore the 
crown or garland. A public grief was sometimes testified by a 
general fast. Among the Romans, a year of mourning was 
ordained by law, for women who had lost their husbands. In 
public mourning, the shops of Rome were shut up; the senators 
laid aside their laticlavian robes, the consuls sat in a lower seat 
than usual, and the women put aside all their ornaments. 

The colours of the dress, or habit, worn to signify grief, are 
different in different countries. In Europe, the ordinary colour 
for mourning is black; in China it is white, a colour that was the 
mourning of the ancient Spartan and Roman ladies; in Turkey 
it is blue, or violet; in Egypt, yellow ; in Ethiopia, brown; and 
kings and cardinals mourn in purple. 

Every nation and country gave a reason for their wearing the 
particular colour of their mourning: black, which is the privation 
of light, is supposed to denote the privation of life ; white is an 
emblem of purity; yellow is to represent, that death is the end 
of all human hopes, because this is the colour of leaves when they 
fall, and flowers when they fade; brown denotes the earth, to 
which the dead return ; blue is an emblem of the happiness 
which it is hoped the deceased enjoys; and purple, or violet, is 
supposed to express a mixture of sorrow and hope. 

The custom of mourning for the dead in shrieks and liowlings, 
is of great antiquity, and prevails almost universally among the 
followers of Mahomet. 




216 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


INTERMENTS AND CHURCHYARDS. 

Agreeably to the Old Roman Law of the Twelve Tables, the 
places of inhumation of the ancients were universally excluded 
from the precincts of their cities. In England, churchyards for 
burial are not of earlier date than the year 750, and the moderns 
would have done well if they had followed the custom of the 
ancients, in burying not within the city, but without its walls. 

Clemens is of opinion, that the tombs of the Athenians {see 
article Mausoleum) were the origin of all their temples. He 
says, the first place of worship in the Acropolis of Athens, was 
the Sepulchre of Cecrops; upon which spot the Parthenon was 
afterwards erected. 

The ceremonies of sepulture vary with most nations, and have 
undergone various changes even in this country. Spelman says, 
“ much more joyous was the ceremony of sepulture among the 
Anglo-Saxons than that of marriage. The house in which the 
body lay till its burial, was a perpetual scene of feasting, singing, 
dancing, and every species of riot. This was very expensive to 
the family of the deceased; and in the north it was carried so 
far, that the corpse was forcibly kept unburied by the visiting 
friends, until they were certain that they had consumed all the 
wealth that the deceased had left behind him, in games and 
festivity. In vain did the Church exert itself against such 
enormities. The custom had prevailed during the times of 
Paganism, and was much too pleasant to be abandoned by the 
half Christians of the earty centuries.” 

Were every place of sepulture like unto the celebrated one of 
Pere la Chaise (see article under this head), at Paris, how much 
more consistent and conformable they would be with the mild 
spirit of Christianity; instead of the disgusting receptacles which 
disgrace every large town in England, and which will shortly be 
placed under the entire control of parliament. 

HEARSES. 

Du Cange says: hearses erected in the church were anciently 
common, and the term signified a candlestick, furnished with dif¬ 
ferent lights, and erected at the head of the cenotaph. We are 
told also, that about the time of Edward III. began the use of 
hearses, composed entirely of wax lights, called castra doloris 
(keeps of grief). Hearses over the grave for a continuance, and 
with lights, occur long before and after. As to movable hearses, 
they were of different forms, and not of so early an origin. The’ 
term, as applied to the vehicle containing the body, was first 
used in the reign of William and Mary. So late as the reign of 
Charles II., at the burial of a peer, the body was borne on men’s 
shoulders to the grave. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


217 


BILLS OF MORTALITY. 

Bills of mortality took rise (says Pennant) in 1592; in which 
year began a great pestilence, which continued till the 18th of 
December, 1595. During this period they were kept, in order to 
ascertain the number of persons who died; but when the plague 
ceased, the bills were discontinued. They were resumed again 
in 1603. At the original institution there were only 109 parishes; 
others were gradually added, and by the year 1681, the number 
was 132. Since that time 14 more have been added, so that the 
whole amounts to 146, viz.:— 

97 "Within the walls. 

16 Without the walls. 

23 Out Parishes in Middlesex and Surrey. 

10 In the City and Liberties of Westminster. 

DIVORCES. 

“ ’Twas Parisian aspect which upset old Troy, 

And founded Doctors’ Commons; I have conn'd 
The History of Divorces , which, though chequer’d, 

Calls Ilion’s the first damages on record.”— Byron. 

The Jewish Law of Divorce is founded on the directions given 
in the 24th chapter of Deuteronomy. In Greece, in ancient 
times, the practice of divorce seems to have been varied in dif¬ 
ferent States. Our Saviour’s declaration to the Pharisee, in the 
19th chapter of St. Matthew, became the foundation of the law 
on this subject in Christian countries, and divorces were conse¬ 
quently allowed in one particular case only. In England, 
divorce on the ground of adultery can only be obtained by Act 
of Parliament. 

JUDGES’ BOUQUETS. 

The practice of judges having a nosegay placed before them, is 
not, as is generally imagined, a mere preservation against the 
close air of a crowded court, but is the relic of a primitive and 
ancient custom of the judge holding the bough , or sceptre of 
justice, in his hand; it was formerly called a bouquet , or little 
bough, whence the French took their word bouquet for a nose¬ 
gay. 


ERA, MONTHS, WEEKS, DAYS, &o. 


SUMMER. 

The word Summer is derived from Sun. or rather from its pre¬ 
valence at the season of the year so named. It was originally 
Sun-ner, or Sun-mer; the latter syllable, as in many other in¬ 
stances, being introduced for the sake of harmony. 






218 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


WINTER. 

The word Winter is derived from the Wind, i. e., the time of 
year when the wind is most prevalent or boisterous; the t hav¬ 
ing taken place of the d; and the er being merely added to 
harmonize the word. 

MONTH. 

This term, as applied to the twelve divisions of the year, is 
derived from our Saxon ancestors, who called it Monat or Monath. 
It is so called from its being the period of the moon’s revolution 
round the earth. 


WEEK. 

A period of seven days, of uncertain origin, but which has 
been used from time immemorial in eastern countries. By some 
writers, the use of weeks is supposed to be a remnant of the tra¬ 
dition of the creation; while others refer its origin to the seven 
planets known in ancient time. 

JANUARY. 

This is the first, and generally the coldest, month in the year, 
says Hone, in his “ Every Day Book.” It derives its name from 
Janus, a deity represented by the Bomans with two faces, be¬ 
cause he was acquainted with past and future events. 

FEBRUARY. 

This month hath Pisces, or the fishes, for its zodiacal sign. 
Numa, who was chosen by the Eoman people to succeed Romulus 
as their king, and became their legislator, placed it the second 
in the year, as it remains with us, and dedicated it to Neptune, 
the lord of waters. Its name is from Februa or Feralia, sacrifices 
offered to the gods at this season. 

MARCH. 

March is the third month of the year ; with the ancients it 
was the first. According to Mr. Leigh Hunt, from Ovid, the 
Romans named it Mars, the god of war, because he was the 
father of their first prince.' As to the deity’s nature, March has 
certainly nothing in common with it; for though it affects to be 
very rough, it is one of the best-natured months in the year, 
drying up the superabundant mixture of winter with its fierce 
winds, and thus restoring us our paths through the fields, and 
piping before the flowers like a Bacchanal. 

APRIL. 

This is the fourth month of the year. Its Latin name is Aprilis, 
from Aperio, to open or set forth. The Saxons called it Oster .or 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


219 


Eastermonath , in which month the feast of the Saxon goddess 
Eastre, Easter , or Eoster, is said to have been celebrated. April, 
with us, is sometimes represented as a girl clothed in green, with 
a garland of myrtle and hawthorn buds ; holding in one hand 
primroses and violets, and in the other the zodiacal sign Taurus, 
or the bull, into which constellation the sun enters during this 
month. 


MAY. 

The fifth month of the year, but the third of the Roman. The 
name is supposed by some to be derived from Maia , the month of 
Mercury, to whom the Romans offered sacrifices on the first day 
of the month. Others ascribe its name to its having been dedi¬ 
cated by Romulus to the Majores , or Roman senators. Verstegan 
affirms of the Anglo-Saxons, that “ the pleasant month of May, 
they termed by the name of Trimitki, because they then milked 
their kine three times in the day.” 

JUNE. 

Mr. Leigh Hunt observes, in his “ Months,” that the name of 
June, and indeed that of May, gave rise to various etymologies ; 
but the most probable one derives it from Juno , in honour of 
whom a festival was celebrated at the beginning of the month. 

Our Saxon ancestors called it Weydmonat , because their beasts 
then did weyd in the meadows. Verstegan says, the Teutonick 
weyd signifies “ wade , which we understand of going through 
watrie places, such as meadows are wont to be.” This month 
consisted originally of twenty-six days, to which Romulus is said 
to have added four. Numa afterwards deprived it of one day, 
which, however, was again restored by Julius Csesar, and it has 
ever since remained unaltered. 

JULY. 

This is the seventh month of the year. According to ancient 
reckoning it was the fifth, and called Quintilis until Mark Antony 
denominated it July, in compliment to Cains Csesar, the Roman 
dictator, whose name was Julius, who improved the calendar, 
and was born in this month. 

July was called by the Saxons henmonath , which probably 
expressed the meaning of the German word hain, signifying wood, 
or trees; and hence henmonath might mean foliage month. They 
likewise called it heymonath , or haymonth; “ because,” says Ver¬ 
stegan, u therein they usually mowed and made their hay harvest;” 
and they also denominated it Lida-aftera , meaning the second 
Lida, or second month after the sun’s descent.* The dog-days 
are supposed to commence on the third of this month. 

* Dr. F. Sayers. 






220 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


AUGUST. 

August is tlie eighth month of the year. It was called Sextilis 
by the Romans, from its being the sixth month in their calendar, 
until the senate complimented the emperor Augustus, by naming 
it after him, and through them it is by us denominated August. 
Our Saxon ancestors, according to Verstegan, called it Arn-monat , 
(more rightly barn-monath ) intending thereby the then filling of 
their barns with corn. 

SEPTEMBER. 

This, which is the ninth month of the year, was anciently the 
seventh, as its name imports, which is a compound of tieptem, 
seven, and imber, a shower of rain, from the rainy season usually 
commencing at this period of the year. 

Our Saxon ancestors called this month Gerst-monat, “ for that 
barley which that moneth commonly yeelded was antiently called 
gerst, the name of barley being given to it by reason of the drinke 
therewith made, called beere, and from beerlegh it came to be ber- 
legh , and from berleg to barley 

OCTOBER. 

This, which is the tenth month of the year, w*as called by our 
Saxon ancestors Wyn monat, wyn signifying wine; “ and albeit, 
they had not anciently wines made in Germany, yet in this season 
had they them from divers countries adjoining.! The derivation 
of the word October, is by some supposed to have originally been 
from Octavius Caesar; but this is very doubtful. 

NOVEMBER. 

This, which is the eleventh month of the year, was called by 
our Saxon ancestors Wint-monat, to wit, Wind-moneth, whereby 
we may see, that our ancestors were in this season of the yeare 
made acquainted with blustering Boreas; and it was the antient 
custome for shipmen then to shroud themselves at home, and to 
give over seafaring (notwithstanding the littleness of their then 
used voyages), nor till blustering March had bidden them well to 
fare.* They likewise called it Blot-monath. In the Saxon, blot 
means blood; and in this month they killed great abundance of 
cattle for winter-store, or, according to some, for purposes of 
sacrifice to their deities.§ The derivation of November is seem¬ 
ingly lost. 

DECEMBER. 

By our ancestors, December had his due appellation given him 
in the name of Winter-monat, to wit, Winter-moneth; but after 
* Verstegan. f Ibid. + Ibid. § Dr. F. Sayers. 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 221 

the Saxons received Christianity, they then, of devotion to the 
birth-time of Christ, termed it by the name of heligh-monat , that 
is to say, holy-monath* They also called it mid-winter-monath , 
and guilerra , which means the former or first guil. The feast of 
Thor , which was celebrated at the winter solstice, was guil, from 
iol or ol, which signified ale , and is now corrupted into yule. 
This festival appears to have been continued throughout part of 
January.f The term December seems to have been given to this 
month at the period of the alteration of the calendar by the 
Romans, and is derived from the decemviri. 


FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR. 

In September, 1793, the French nation resolved that the 
republic should form a new era, and that a calendar should be 
adopted, on what are termed philosophical principles; that the 
common era should be abolished in all civil affairs; and that the 
new era should date from the foundation of the republic, 22nd 
September, 1792. The months and festivals were as follow:— 


Autumn. 


Winter.. 


Spring. 


Summer. 


( Vincffmaire (Vintage Month)...Sept. 22, to Oct. 21. 

< Brumaire (Foggy Month) ...Oct. 22, „ Nov. 20. 

(Frimaire (Sleety Month).Nov. 21, „ Dec. 20. 

S Nivose (Snowy Month).Dec. 21, „ Jan. 19. 

Pluviose (Rainy Month).Jan. 20, ,, Feb. 18. 

Ventose (Windy Month).Feb. 19, „ Mar. 20. 

{ Germinal (Budding Month) ..Mar. 21, „ April 19. 
Flor&il (Flowery Month) ..April20, „ May 19. 

Prairial (Pasture Month) ...May 20, „ June 18. 


i Messidor (Harvest Month)...June 19, „ July 18. 
Fervidor, or Thermidor (Hot Month) July 19, Aug. 17. 
Fructidor (Fruit Month).Aug. 18,,, Sept. 16. 


To complete the 365 days of the Common Year, five Jours 
Complementaires, which were considered festivals, were added. 

Primidi, dedicated to Virtue, September 17. 


Duodi.Genius „ 18. 

Tridi .Labour „ 19. 

Quartidi .Opinion „ 20. 

Quintidi.Rewards „ 21. J 


The late George Ellis ridiculed this newfangled method of 
registering time, by the following ludicrous, but happy trans- 

O o * 


lation:— 

Autumn. Wheezy, sneezy, freezy; 

Winter .Slippy, drippy, nippy; 

Spring .Showery, flowery, bowery; 

Summer .Hoppy, croppy, poppy. 

* Verstegan. f Iff* Sayers. J Sir Harris Nicolas. 


















222 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


DAYS OF THE WEEK. 

“ Name the day.” 

The division of time has been very ably and satisfactorily 
accounted for by several able writers, but they either totally 
neglect the derivation of their terms, or treat them in a slovenly 
manner. The days of the week have been particularly neglected ; 
for, although some obscurity may envelope the origin of their 
cognomens, yet surely some light may be thrown on the matter. 

Sunday , the first day of the week, is said to derive its name 
from the Saxons, who consecrated it to the Sun in heathen times. 
It was not set apart as a day of cessation from labour before the 
reign of Constantine. By a decree of that Emperor (a.d. 321), 
public business and military exercises were suspended. The 
council of Laodicea (a.d. 360) forbade labour in general terms, 
and the laws of Theodosius (a.d. 420) sanctioned this interdiction 
by civil penalties. 

Monday , the second day of the week, is so called and means 
literally the day of the moon. 

Tuesday , the third day of the week, was named after Tuisco, the 
Saxon god of war, whence the astronomical symbol is the same as 
for the planet Mars. 

Wednesday , the fourth day of the week, is named after Woden, 
a Saxon Deity, whose functions corresponded to those of Mercury 
in the Greek and Roman mythology ; hence it was Wodensday, 
now corrupted into Wednesday. 

Thursday , the fifth day of the week, is derived from another 
Saxon god, Thor ; whom they supposed to preside over the ele¬ 
ments, thunder, lightning, &c., and who corresponded to the 
Jupiter of the ancients, to whom this day was also consecrated, 
and from Thorsday came our denomination of Thursday. 

Friday , the sixth day of the week, derives its name from Freya, 
or Friga, a Saxon goddess ; this is termed the “ unlucky day.” 

Saturday , the seventh day of the week, and the Jewish sabbath, 
derives its name from the god Saturn, to whom it was dedicated 
by the Romans. 


MAY DAY. 

Our usages on this day retain the character of their ancient 
origin. The Romans commenced the festival of Flora on the 
28th of April, and continued it through several days in May. 
Ovid records the mythological attributes and dedication of the 
season to that goddess:— 

“Fair Flora! now attend thy sportful feast, 

Of which some days l with design have past;— 

A part in April and a part in May 

Thou claim'st, and both command my tuneful lay; 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


223 


And as the confines of two months are thine. 

To sing of both the double task be mine. 

Circus and stag'e are open now and free—• 

Goddess! again thy feast my theme must be. 

Since new opinions oft delusive are, 

Do thou, O Flora, who thou art declare; 

Why should thy poet on conjectures dwell? 

Thy name and attributes thou best can tell. 

Thus I:—to which she ready answer made, 

And rosy sweets attended what she said; 

Though, now corrupted, Flora be my name, 

From the Greek Chloris that corruption came:— 

In fields where happy mortals whilome stray’d, 

Chloris my name, I was a rural maid; 

To praise herself a modest nymph will shun, 

But yet a god was by my beauty won.” 

Flora then relates, that Zephyr became enamoured of her as 
Boreas had been, that “ by just marriage to his bed” she was 
united to Zephyr, who assigned her the dominion over Spring, 
and that she strews the earth with flowers and presides over 
gardens. She further says, as the deity of flowers,— 

“ I also rule the plains. 

When the crops flourish in the golden field; 

The harvest will undoubted plenty yield; 

If purple clusters flourish on the vine, 

The presses will abound with racy wine; 

Th e flowering olive makes a beauteous year, 

And how can bloomless trees ripe apples bear? 

Th efloioer destroy’d, of vetches, beans, and peas, 

You must expect but small or no increase; 

The gift of honey’s mine, the painful bees, 

That g’ather sweets from flowers or blooming trees, 

To scented shrubs and violets 1 invite, 

In which I know they take the most delight; 

A flower an emblem of young years is seen, 

With all its leaves around it fresh and green; 

So youth appears, when health the body sways, 

And gladness in the mind luxuriant plays.” 

From these allegorical ascriptions the Roman people worshipped 
Flora, and celebrated her festivals by ceremonies and rejoicings, 
and offerings of spring flowers, and the branches of trees in 
bloom. The earliest notice of the celebration of May day may 
be traced to the Druids, who on May eve were accustomed to 
light large fires on eminences in gratitude and joy for the 
return of Spring. At a later period this day seems to have been 
observed by all classes. Chaucer in his Court of Love says, that 
on this day “ forth goeth all the Court, most and least, to fetch the 
flowers fresh, and branch and bloom,” and it is well known that 
Henry VIII. and Katherine, and all their Court, partook in the 
diversion. The May-pole, which is still visible in many English 
villages, and Jack in the Green, are still relics of this custom. 





224 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


MICHAELMAS DAY, &c. 

The festival of St. Michael and all Angels has been celebrated 
with great solemnity by the Christian church ever since the 
fifth age, and was certainly kept sacred in Apulia as early as 493. 

The dedication of the great church of Mount Gorgano, in Italy, 
to St. Michael, gave rise to the celebration of this feast in the 
West. It obtained the common name of Michaelmas; and the 
dedication of numerous churches at Rome, and other parts of 
Italy, subsequently took place on this day, a practice followed in 
other countries. 

The churches dedicated to St. Michael are usually to be found 
on elevated spots, in allusion to this Saint’s having been the 
highest of the heavenly host. St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, 
and that in Normandy, are confirmations of this remark. 

Michaelmas-day is one of the regular quarter-days for settling 
rents; bnt it is no longer remarkable for the hospitality which 
once attended this anniversary. At Martinmas, the old quarter- 
day, the landlords used formerly to entertain their tenants with 
geese, then only kept by opulent persons. But these birds being 
esteemed in perfection early in the autumn, most families now 
have a goose dressed on St. Michael’s day; for 

“ At Michaelmas?, by custom right divine, 

Geese are ordain’d to bleed at Michael's shrine.” 

Very many inquiries have been made by antiquaries into the 
origin of “ eating goose” on this festival, none of which, however, 
prove satisfactory, and, in our opinion, it had no particular mean¬ 
ing, except that stubble geese are now in perfection. People 
like to do things that are pleasant on holydays; and feasts, both 
among Polytheists and Christians, make up a great part of the 
miscellaneous customs attached to their calling. Geese are eaten 
likewise at Martinmas; and in Denmark, and other countries 
where they are later in being ready for the table, this is usually 
the time when they are in vogue. As matter, however, of anti¬ 
quarian information, we shall cite the various explanations of this 
custom from different authors. It has been ascribed to the 
accidental circumstance of Queen Elizabeth’s* being at dinner on 
a goose at the time she heard of the defeat of the Spanish armada, 
and that in consequence she ate of goose every year on that 
anniversary. In Gascoigne’s Flowers we find,— 

“ And when the tenauntes come to paie their quarter’s rent, 

They bring somefowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent; 

At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose; 

And somewhat else at Newyere’s tide, for feare their lease flie loose.” 

A writer in The World , No. 10, probably Lord Orford, remark¬ 
ing on the effects of the alteration of the style, says, “ When the 

* See Origin of Goose on Michaelmas Day. 




TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


225 


reformation of tlie Calendar was in agitation, to the great disgust 
of many worthy persons, who urged how great the harmony was 
in the old establishment between the holidays and their attributes, 
and what confusion would follow if Michaelmas Day, for instance, 
was not to be celebrated when stubble geese are in their highest 
perfection; it was replied that such a propriety was mere imagi¬ 
nary, and would be lost of itself, even without any alteration of 
the Calendar by authority; for if in it the errors were suffered to 
go on, they would, in a certain number of years, produce such a 
variation, that we should be mourning for good King Charles on 
a false thirtieth of January, at a time of year when our ancestors 
used to be tumbling over head and heels in Greenwich Park, in 
honour of Whitsuntide; and at length be choosing king and 
queen for Twelfth Night, when we ought to be admiring the 
London ’Prentice at Bartholomew Fair.” 

It is a popular saying, that “ if you eat goose on Michaelmas 
Day, you will never want money all the year round.” In the 
British Ajpollo the proverb is thus discussed:— 

“ Supposing now Apollo’s sons, 

Just rose from picking of goose bones, 

This on you pops, pray tell me whence 
The custom’! proverb did commence, 

That who eats goose on Michael’s Day, 

Sha’n’t money lack his debts to pay? 

This notion, framed in days of yore, 

Is grounded on a prudent score; 

For, doubtless, ’twas at first design’d 
To make the people Seasons mind; 

That so they might apply their care 
To all those things which needful Avere, 

And, by a good industrious hand, 

Know when and how t’improve their land.” 

ALL SAINTS’ DAY. 

This day is thus denominated in the Calendar, because it cele¬ 
brates the commemoration of those worthies whom, on account 
of their number, particular days could not be appropriated to 
their individual honour. 

ST. MARTIN’S LITTLE SUMMER. 

In Time's Telescope for 1825, we are told that the few fine days 
which sometimes occur about the beginning of November, have 
been denominated “ St. Martin’s Little Summerto this Shak- 
speare alludes in the First Part of King Henry IV. (Act I. Scene 
2nd), where Prince Henry says to Falstaff, “ Farewell, thou latter 
spring! farewell, allhallewn summer!”—and in the First Part of 
King Henry VI. (Act I. Scene 2nd), Joan la Pucelle says,— 

“ Assign’d I am to be the English scourge, 

This night assuredly the siege I’ll raise; 

Except St. Martin's Summer, halcyon days, 

Since 1 have enter’d thus into these wars.” 


Q 


226 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ALL SOULS. 

A Romish festival, set apart to offer up prayers for souls in 
Purgatory. 

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST’S DAY. 

Consecrated wine was anciently sold by the priests on the 27th 
of December, the festival of St. John the Evangelist, to prevent 
the effects of poison, storms, &c.; because St. John had been 
forced to drink poison. 

LADY DAY. 

The festival of the Annunciation is commonly called in England, 
Lady Day, an abridgment of the old term Our Lady's Day , or the 
day of our blessed Lady. 

MAUNDY THURSDAY. 

The term Maundy , as applied to the Thursday before Easter, 
has occasioned some trouble to antiquaries. One writer con¬ 
ceives Maundy to be corrupted from the Mandate of Christ to 
his disciples, to break bread in remembrance of him: or, from 
his other mandate, after he had washed their feet, to love one 
another.* 

With better reason it is conceived to be derived from the 
Saxon word Mand , which afterwards became Maund, a name for 
basket, and subsequently for any gift or offering contained in the 
basket. Thus then Maundy Thursday, the day preceding Good 
Friday, on which the sovereign distributes alms to a certain num¬ 
ber of poor persons at Whitehall, is so named from the Maunds in 
which the gifts were contained.t According to Ducange, it de¬ 
rives its origin from St. Augustine. 

CANDLEMAS DAY. 

A Church festival held on the 2nd of February, to commemo¬ 
rate the purification of the Virgin Mary. The name probably 
arose from the number of lighted candles used in the processions 
of the day; or perhaps from a custom of consecrating candles on 
that day for the rest of the year. This practice was abolished in 
England in the second year of the reign of Edward VI. 

It is to be noted, that from Candlemass the use of tapers at 
vespers and litanies, which prevailed throughout the winter, 
ceased until the ensuing All-FIallow-Mass; and hence the origin 
of an old English proverb in “ Ray’s Collection”— 

“ On Candlemass day 
Throw candle and candlestick away.” 

* Dunton’s British Apollo. 

f Archdeacon Nares’ “ Glossary,” where the various authorities are set 
forth at large. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


227 


TWELFTH DAY. 

There is a difference of opinion as to the origin of Twelfth 
Day. Brand says, “ That though its customs vary in different 
countries, yet they concur in the same end, that is, to do honour 
to the Eastern Magi.” He afterwards observes, “ That the 
practices of choosing King on twelfth day, is similar to a custom 
that existed among the ancient Greeks and Romans, who, on the 
festival days of Saturn, about that season of the year, drew lots 
for kingdoms, and like kings exercised their temporary autho¬ 
rity.” The Epiphany is called Twelfth Day, because it falls on 
the twelfth day after Christmas day. Epiphany signifies Mani¬ 
festation, and is applied to this day because it is the day whereon 
Christ was manifested to the Gentiles. 

QUARTER DAY. 

If lie who runs may read, surely, he who does either, wants 
not to know that Quarter day is the termination of a quarter of 
a year, and needs no further derivation than what it carries with 
it: but, however simple this may be, yet the origin or data from 
whence it was made the Rent-day, or day for paying and collect¬ 
ing rents, may not be so generally known. It was not till the 
fifteenth century, in the reign of Henry VII., that rents were 
paid or collected quarterly; prior to that period, they were paid 
by the week, month, or year. His Highness, who was very fond 
of money, and who perhaps left more ready money behind him 
than any British monarch either before or since, stipulated with 
his own immediate tenants that they should pay their rents 
quarterly; this system, however, did not become the law of the 
land until the Revolution in 1688; from which period, of course, 
it became usual throughout the land. 


PLOUGH MONDAY. 

The first Monday after Twelfth Day is so called, because the 
husbandman then resumes the plough for the first time after 
Christmas. On this day, and for some days afterwards, in the 
northern counties, particularly Yorkshire, there is a procession 
of rustic youths dragging a plough, who, as they officiate for oxen, 
are called plough-stots: they are dressed with their shirts out¬ 
side of their jackets, with sashes of ribbons fastened on their 
shirts, and on their hats. Besides the plough-draggers, there is 
a band of six in the same dress, furnished with swords, who per¬ 
form the sword-dance, while one or more musicians play on the 
flute or violin. 

The sword-dance, probably introduced by the Danes, displays 
considerable ingenuity, not without gracefulness. The dancers 




228 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


arrange themselves in a ring, with their swords elevated, and 
their motions and evolutions are at first slow and simple, but be¬ 
come gradually more rapid and complicated: towards the close, 
each one catches the point of his neighbour’s sword, and various 
movements take place in consequence; one of which consists in 
joining or plaiting the swords into the form of an elegant hexagon 
or rose, in the centre of the ring, which rose is so firmly made, 
that one of them holds it up above their heads without undoing 
it. The dance closes with taking it to pieces, each man laying 
hold of his own sword. During the dance, two or three of the 
company, called Toms or Clowns , dressed up as harlequins, in 
most fantastic modes, having their faces painted or masked, are 
making antic gestures to amuse the spectators; while another 
set, called Madgies or Madgy Pegs, clumsily dressed in women’s 
clothes, and also masked or painted, go from door to door, rat¬ 
tling old canisters, in which they receive money—when they 
are well paid they raise a huzza; when they get nothing, they 
shout out “ hunger and starvation.” When the party do not 
exceed forty, they seldom encumber themselves with a plough. 
Egton Bridge has long been the principal rendezvous for sword- 
dancers in the vicinity of Whitby. 

INNOCENTS’ DAY. 

It was a popular superstition, which, in the remote parts of 
the island, is not yet extinct, that no undertaking could prosper 
which was begun on that day of the week on which Childer-mass 
or Innocents’ day last fell. The custom is thus alluded to, in the 
old play, by some attributed to Shakspeare, of “ Sir John 
Old castle.” 

“ Friday, quotha, a dismal day! 

Childermass this year was Friday.” 

Children were flogged by our ancestors not only for punish¬ 
ment, but to fix things in their memory. Accordingly, the 
children were whipped in their beds on the morning of Innocents’ 
Day, by their parents, “ in order that the memorie of Herod’s 
murder of the Innocents mighte stick the closer.” There were 
also processions of children on that day. 

LAMMAS DAY. 

The first of August is by some supposed to have received this 
appellation from the following circumstance: During the super¬ 
stitious days of Popery, the priests at this time of the year began 
to say masses for the sheep and lambs, that they might be pre¬ 
served in the time of the cold season, being recently deprived of 
their woolly covering by the hands of the shearer. Hence it 
obtained the n me of Lamb mass Day, and for the sake of a smooth 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


229 


pronunciation, contracted as it now appears. Dr. Johnson sup¬ 
poses this term to be a corruption of Lattermath, which signifies 
a second mowing of scrass. 

o o 

ST. STEPHEN’S DAY. 

It was an ancient custom to gallop horses on St. Stephen’s 
day, December 26, until they perspired, and then bleed them, to 
prevent their having any disorders during the ensuing year. 
This practice is supposed to have been introduced by the Danes. 
Blessings were also implored upon pastures. 

ST. THOMAS’ DAY. 

This day, the 21st day of December, is denominated the shortest 
day. At the village of Thornton, near Sherborne, an ancient 
custom exists among the tenants, of depositing 5s. in a hole, in a 
certain tombstone in the churchyard, which prevents the lord 
of the manor from taking tithe of hay during the year. This 
must invariably be done on St. Thomas’ day, before twelve 
o’clock, or the privilege is lost. 

EMBER WEEK. 

Ember. —The Latin name, Quatuor Tempora , the Four Times , 
has remained in modern languages. In Spanish and Portuguese 
the term is Temporas. The German converts them into Quatember , 
and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, 
a corruption which also takes place in some German dialects, we 
get the English Ember. Thus, there is no occasion to seek after 
an etymology in embers ; or, with Nelson, to extravagate still 
further to the noun ymbren , a recurrence, as if all holy seasons 
did not equally recur. In Welsh, Ember week is Wythnos y 
cydgorian , the Week of the Processions. Ember Weeks are 
those in which the Ember days fall. They were appointed for 
imploring the blessings of the Almighty on the fruits of the 
earth, and upon the ordinations performed in the Church at these 
Seasons. The Ember days are the Wednesday, Friday, and 
Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whitsunday, after 
the 14th of September, and after the 13th of December. 

DOG DAYS. 

In an ancient calendar preserved by Bede, the beginning of 
the dog-days was placed on the 14th of July. In one prefixed 
to the Common Prayer, printed in the time of queen Elizabeth, 
they are said to begin on the 6th of July, and to end on the 5th 
of September; and this was continued from that time till the 


230 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Restoration, when that book was revised, and the dog-days 
omitted. From that time to the correction of the British calen¬ 
dar, our almanacs had the beginning of the dog-days on the 
19th of July, and the end on the 20th of August; but since that 
correction, the times of the beginning and end have been altered, 
and the former was placed at the 30th of July, and the latter at 
the 7th of September. The dog-days have been commonly 
reckoned for about forty days, viz., twenty days before, and 
twenty days after the heliacal rising; and almanac-makers 
have usually set down the dog-days in their almanacs to the 
changing time of the star’s rising; and thus they had at length 
fallen considerably after the hottest season of the year; till of 
late, a very proper alteration has been introduced into the 
almanacs, and they have been made to commence with the 3rd 
of July, and to terminate with the lltli of August. The pro¬ 
priety of this alteration will be evident, if we consider that the 
ancients meant to express by the dog-days, the hottest time of 
the year, which is commonly during the month of July, about 
which month the dog-star rose heliacally in the time of the most 
ancient astronomers, whose observations have been transmitted 
to us. 

Ancient authors tell us that on the day the canicula, or dog- 
star, first rises in the morning, the sea boils, wine turns sour, 
dogs begin to grow mad, the bile increases and irritates, and all 
animals grow languid; and that the diseases ordinarily occasioned 
in men by it, are burning fevers, dysenteries, and frenzies. The 
Romans sacrificed a brown dog every year to Canicula, at its 
rising, to appease its rage. The Egyptians carefully watched the 
rising of this star, and judging by it of the swelling of the Nile, 
called the star the sentinel and watch of the year. Hence, ac¬ 
cording to their mode of hieroglyphic writing, they represented 
it under the figure of a dog (that faithful animal having been, 
even in these times, distinguished for his peculiar qualities of 
watching over the affairs of man), or of a man with a dog’s head, 
and worshipped him under the name of Anubis , whose figure was 
liung up in all their temples, to give notice of the approach of 
the inundation of the Nile. 

GULE OF AUGUST. 

The first day of August is so called. According to Gebelin, 
as the month of August was the first in the Egyptian year, it 
was called Gule, which being latinized makes Guta , a word in 
that language signifying throat. « Our legendaries,” says Brand, 
“ surprised at seeing this word at the Wad of the month of 
August, converted it to their own purpose.” They made out of 
it the feast of the daughter of the tribune Quirinus, who they 
pretend was cured of a disorder in the throat (gula), by kissing 
















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


231 


the chain of St. Peter on the day of its festival. Forcing the 
Gnle of the Egyptians into the throat of the tribune’s daughter, 
they instituted a festival to Gule upon the festival day of St. 
Peter ad Yincula. 


CRISPIN'S DAY. 

St. Crispin was a shoemaker, and consequently was chosen by 
the craft as their Patron Saint. The Rev. Alban Butler, in his 
“ Lives of the Saints,” says, “ St. Crispin, and St. Crispinian, two 
glorious martyrs, came from Rome to preach at Soissons, in 
France, towards the middle of .the third century, and, in imitation 
of St. Paul, worked with their hands in the night, making shoes , 
though they were said to be nobly born, and brothers.” 

This day, in 1415, is famed in the annals of England, as the 
one on which the memorable battle of Agincourt was fought. 

LOW SUNDAY. 

The Sunday after Easter-day is called Low Sunday, because it 
is Easter-day repeated,with the church service somewhat abridged 
or lowered in the ceremony, from the pomp of the festival the 
Sunday before. Other writers have supposed that it was called 
Low Sunday because it is the lowest or latest day for satisfying 
of the Easter obligation, viz., the worthily receiving the blessed 
Sacrament. 

INVENTION OF THE CROSS. 

Mr. Audley says, the word Invention sometimes signifies the 
finding a thing that was hidden ; thence the name of this festival, 
which celebrates the alleged finding of the Cross of Christ by St. 
Helena, who is said to have found three crosses on Mount Calvary, 
but the true one could not be distinguished, till a sick woman 
being placed on each, was healed by one, which was therefore 
pronounced the True Cross. Mr. Audley quotes, that the cus¬ 
tody of the cross was committed to the bishop of Jerusalem. 
Every Easter Sunday it was exposed to view, and pilgrims from 
all countries were indulged with little pieces of it enchased in 
gold or gems. MTiat was most astonishing, the sacred wood was 
never lessened, although it was perpetually diminished, tor it 
possessed a secret power of vegetation! Ribadeneira says, u the 
Cross being a piece of wood without sense or feeling, yet it seemeth 
to have in it a living and everlasting virtue; for although severed, 
parted, and divided, it still remains whole and entire for all that 
come to reverence and adore it.” 

ROGATION SUNDAY. 

The fifth Sunday after Easter is called Rogation Sunday. The 
term Rogation signifies supplication, from the Latin rogare , to 
beseech. 


232 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Rogation Sunday obtained its name from the succeeding Mon¬ 
day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which are called Rogation Days, 
and were ordained by Mamertus, archbishop of Vienne, in Dau- 
phine ; about the year 469, he caused the Litanies, or Supplica¬ 
tions, to be said upon them, for the deliverance from earthquakes, 
fires, wild beasts, and other public calamities, which are alleged 
to have happened in this city; hence the whole week is called 
Rogation Week, to denote the continual praying.* 


RESTORATION DAY. 

This day (May 29th) is so called from its being the anniversary 
of the day whereon king Charles II. entered London, in 1660, 
and re-established royalty, which had been suspended from the 
death of his father. It is usual with the vulgar people to wear 
oak-leaves in their hats on this day, and dress their horses’ heads 
with them. This is in commemoration of the shelter afforded to 
Charles by an Oak, while making his escape from England, after 
his defeat at Worcester, by Cromwell, on the 3rd of September, 
1651. This day is appointed in the liturgy of the English Church 
as an anniversary festival in commemoration of the restoration 
of the monarchical form of government in these realms. 

BLACK BARTHOLOMEW. 

Mr. Audley says, there is a shocking propriety in the epithet 
given to this day (August 24th) for the horrid massacres of Pro¬ 
testants, which commenced in the reign of Charles IX. In Paris 
only, ten thousand were butchered in a fortnight, and ninety 
thousand in the provinces, making together one hundred thousand. 
This at least is the calculation of Perefixe, tutor to Louis XIV., 
and archbishop of Paris : others reduce the number much lower. 

SICILIAN VESPERS. 

This is another of those bloody massacres which so much dis¬ 
grace history. It occurred on the 30th of March, 1282, when the 
Sicilians rose on the French, and destroyed in cold blood eight 
thousand of them. The signal was the sounding of the vesper, 
or evening prayer bell; and from whence came the term of the 
Sicilian Vespers. 

PALM SUNDAY. 

So called in commemoration of boughs, or branches of Palm 
Trees, being carried in procession before Christ when he rode 
into Jerusalem. 


* Butler. 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


233 


TRANSLATION OF SAINTS. 

Of the origin of the translation of Saints, a great deal has been 
written; it is, however, generally supposed to take its data from 
the following:—In the year 359, the emperor Constantins, out of 
a presumed, and perhaps not inconsistent, respect, caused the 
remains of St. Andrew and St. Luke to be removed from their 
ancient place of interment, to the Temple of the Twelve Apostles, 
at Constantinople; and from that example, the practice of 
searching for the bodies of saints and martyrs increased so 
rapidly, that in the year 386, we find almost the whole of the 
devotees engaged in that pursuit. Relics, of course, speedily 
became of considerable value; and as they were all alleged to 
possess peculiar virtues, no expense or labour were spared to 
provide such treasures for every public religious foundation. 

Ameruth Peyral, in his manuscript Chronicle of the Popes, 
says, that England is remarkable for its number of saints, whose 
bodies it has preserved from corruption. He observes, there is 
no soil so adapted to preserve corpses from corruption, as the 
soil of this country. Upon this ground, it is supposed, popish 
writers might imagine relics more plentiful than otherwise. 


CARLING SUNDAY. 

Carling Sunday is so called by the lower orders in the north 
of England, because it is their custom to eat immense quantities 
of small peas, called carlings, fried in butter and pepper and salt, 
on the second Sunday before Easter. This is said, by an old 
author, to take its rise from the disciples plucking the ears of 
corn, and rubbing them in their hands. 


SHROVF. OR PANCAKE TUESDAY. 

Pancake Day is another name for Shrove Tuesday, from the 
custom of eating pancakes on this day, still generally observed. 
A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine , 1790, says, that Shrive is 
an old Saxon word, of which Shrove is a corruption, and signi¬ 
fies Confession. Plence Shrove Tuesday means Confession Tues¬ 
day, on which day all the people in every parish through the 
kingdom were obliged to confess their sins, one by one, to their 
own parish priests, in their own parish churches; and that this 
might be done the more regularly, the great bell in every parish 
was rung at ten o’clock, or perhaps sooner, that it might be 
heard by all. Since the Reformation the custom of ringing the 
great bell in our ancient parish churches, at least in some of 
them, still remains, and obtains in and about London the name 
of Pancake-Bell: the usage of dining on pancakes or fritters, and 




234 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


suchlike provision, still continues. In Pasquin’s Palinodia , 
1634, 4to, it is merrily observed, that on this day every stomach, 

<c -till it can hold no more, 

Is fritter-filled, as well as heart can wish; 

And every man and maide doe take their turne 
And tosse their pancakes up for feare they burne; 

And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound, 

To see the pancakes fall upon the ground.” 


ASII WEDNESDAY. 

The name of Ash Wednesday proceeded from a custom in the 
ancient Church, when, on the first day of Lent, the penitents 
presented themselves before the Bishop clothed with sackcloth, 
and in the presence of the clergy, who were to be judges of the 
sincerity of their repentance. After the seven penitential 
psalms and prayers had been repeated, the penitents were 
conducted to the church-doors, the clergy following after, and 
repeating the curse upon Adam, “ In the sweat of thy brows 
shalt thou eat thy bread.” The English Church, in her service 
for this day, laments the disuse of this discipline, and has sup¬ 
plied the want of it by the office called Commination. 


AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, VEGETABLES, ERUITS, PLANTS, 
BLOWERS, BEVERAGES, &c. 


AGRICULTURE, AN ACCOUNT OF ITS PROGRESS. 

The Romans were great agriculturists, and it is well known 
they took many of their great generals from the plough. The 
Egyptians ascribe the invention of agriculture to Osiris; the 
Greeks to Ceres and her son Triptolemus; and the Italians to 
Saturn, or Janus. But the Jews, with more reason, ascribe this 
honour to Noah, who, immediately after the flood, set about 
tilling the ground and planting vineyards. Agriculture has been 
the delight of the greatest men. We are told, that Cyrus the 
younger planted and cultivated his garden, in a great measure, 
with his own hands. Holinshed says, when Csesar invaded 
Britain, agriculture was unknown in the inner parts; the in¬ 
habitants fed upon milk and flesh, and were clothed with skins. 
Julius Csesar (says his history) was of opinion, that agriculture 
was first introduced into Britain by some of those colonies from 
Gaul, which had settled in the southern part about 100 years 
before the invasion. It appears they were not unacquainted 
with the use of manures, particularly Marie. Pliny tells us, 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


235 


that it was peculiar to the people of Gaul and of Britain; that 
its effects continued eighty years; and that no man was known to 
marie his fields twice. The establishment of the Romans in 
Britain produced great improvements in agriculture, insomuch 
that prodigious quantities of corn were annually exported from 
the island; but when the Roman power began to decline, this, 
like all other arts, declined also ; and was almost totally destroyed 
by the departure of that people. Towards the 14tli century 
agriculture revived, and received very great improvements; and 
in the 15th it seems to have been cultivated as a science, being 
no less an honourable than a profitable art. The science of 
agriculture has received great improvements during the last 30 
years, not only from the formation of Agricultural Societies and 
their Annual Exhibitions, but also from an improved method of 
husbandry, and the introduction of new and highly productive 
manures, of which Guano is the chief, which is now imported in 
large quantities from Peru. Guano does not appear to have 
been discovered till the end of the 16th century. The first 
mention that is made of it is in a work published at Seville in 
1590. 

NATIVE FRUITS OF ENGLAND. 

It is a curious fact, and but very little known, that the only 
native fruits of England are, the Blackberry or Bramble, the 
parent of Raspberry, which is itself found wild in many parts of 
Scotland and Wales; the strawberry; the crab, the parent of 
the present immense variety of apples, all of which are of 
foreign origin, and mostly produced by grafting on crab stocks; 
the sloe, the parent of the several kinds of plums ; the 
pear is found wild in Britain, and is in its native state a thorny 
tree ; all the varieties of pears, like apples, are of foreign origin. 
They are raised from seeds, which are afterwards used as stocks. 
—The cloud-berry, a native of the mountains of Scotland, North 
of England,and Wales; it is allied to the Bramble or Raspberry. 
—The Gooseberry is found wild in many parts of Britain. It 
has several varieties, which have been produced by seed. It is 
cultivated with greater success in Lancashire than in any other 
county in England.—Currants are found wild in the North of Eng¬ 
land and Scotland, but the fruit is small. 

FLOUGHING. 

Ploughing itself is certainly a singular instance of great skill, 
acquired by a body of men who scarcely receive the credit due to 
that skill. A good ploughman will set up a pole a quarter of a 
mile distant or more, and keeping this mark, almost invisible, 
steadily in his view, will, on land perfectly smooth, trace up 
to that goal, until his horses knock it down as they pass on each 


236 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


side, a furrow so true that no eye can detect any divergence from 
absolute straightness. If one saw for the first time, a field of 
short green clover converted in a few hours into a surface of 
clean brown soil in regular ribs, it would be regarded as a triumph 
of art. This is important, because in speculative writing the 
plough is sometimes depreciated and the spade is extolled, though 
this very operation of preparing our wheat laud could scarcely be 
executed at all by spade,'since it is necessary that the existing 
sward should be perfectly buried. 

RIBSTON PIPPIN. 

The late Sir Harry Goodricke brought this apple from Italy, 
and as it was first grown in this country, at his residence, 
Ribstone Hall, in the county of York, where the original tree 
was still growing a few years since, it received the appellation of 
Ribston, or Ribstone Pippin. 

CURRANTS. 

Currants, or Corinthian Grapes, so called because they came 
from Corinth. They were first brought into England in 1534, 
from the Isle of Zant, belonging to Yenice; the musk rose, and 
several sorts of plums, came from Italy the same year; they 
were brought and planted by Lord Cromwell. The English name 
of Currant is evidently derived from the small Corinthian grape 
sold under that name by grocers. The English currant is,"how¬ 
ever, a different plant, and bears no resemblance to the vine 
which produces the former. 

CHERRIES. 

Faulkner says that this fruit was introduced into Britain about 
the year 53. The Anglo-Saxons are said to have lost it, and 
Richard Harris, fruiterer to king Henry VIII., to have re-im¬ 
ported it; but good native cherries have been found in Norfolk, 
and they were known in the thirteenth century. 

It appears they were commonly sold in the streets of London, 
in the time of Lydgate, who mentions them in his poem, called 
“ Lickpenny:” 

“ Hot pescode own began to cry, 

Strawberys rype, and Cheryes in the ryse.” 

The “ Guardian” of July 2, 1713, mentions, that cherries 
were sold upon sticks above 100 years ago. 

N 

FILBERTS. 

The nut, called Filbert, derives its name from Philipert, king 
of France, who was exceedingly fond of them. 













THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


237 


VARIOUS FRUITS, &c., IN ENGLAND. 

In the reign of Elizabeth, Edmund Grindall, afterwards arch¬ 
bishop of Canterbury, transplanted here the Tamarisk. Oranges 
were brought here by one of the Carew family. To Sir Walter 
Raleigh we are indebted for that useful root, the Potatoe. Sir 
Anthony Ashley first planted Cabbages in this country.* The 
Fig-trees planted by Cardinal Pole, in the reign of Henry VIII., 
are still standing in Lambeth. Sir Richard Weston first brought 
Clover-grass into England in 1645. The Mulberry-tree is a native 
of Persia, and is said to have been introduced in 1576. The 
Almond was introduced in 1570, and came from the east. The 
Chestnut is a native of the South of Europe. The Walnut is a 
native of Persia, but the time of its introduction is unknown. The 
Apricot came from America, about 1562. The Plum is a native 
of Asia, and was imported into Europe by the Crusaders; and 
the Damascene takes its name from the city of Damascus. The 
Alpine Strawberry was first cultivated in the king’s garden, in 
1760. The Peach is a native of Persia. The Nectarine was first 
introduced about 1562. The Quince, called Cydonia,from Cydon, 
was cultivated in this country in Gerrard’s time. The red Queen- 
apple was so called in compliment to queen Elizabeth. The 
cultivation of the Pear is of great antiquity, for Pliny mentions 
twenty different kinds. Most of our apples came originally from 
France. 

Miller mentions eighty-four species of Pear, whose names are 
all enumerated in his Gardener’s Dictionary, a work of great 
celebrity, and may be said to have laid the foundation of all the 
horticultural taste and knowledge in England. To the afflictions 
and exiles of Charles we are indebted for many of our best vege¬ 
tables, which "were introduced by his followers from the Continent: 
thus, by the industry of man, are the gifts of the earth trans¬ 
planted from clime to clime. 

“ See how the rising fruits the gardens crown, 

Imbibe the Sun, and make his light their own.” 

Blackmore. 


RAISINS. 

Raisins are made from grapes, by cutting the stalk of the bunch 
half through when the grapes are nearly ripe, and leaving them 
suspended on the vine till their watery part is evaporated; and 
as the rays of the sun are necessary to effect this, they are called 
Raisins of the Sun. They are also prepared by gathering the 
fruit when fully ripe, and dipping it in the ley made of the ashes 

* In the early part of the reign of Henry VIII., there did not grow in 
England, cabbage, carrot, turnip, or any edible root; and even queen 
Katherine herself could not command a salad, till the king brought over a 
uardener from the Netherlands! 

O 




238 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of burnt tendrils; after which it is exposed to the heat of the sun, 
or to that of an oven, till dry; the former are reckoned the finest, 
and are imported in boxes and jars, and the inferior in mats. 

GRAPES. 

Grapes were first brought to England in the year 1552, and 
planted at Black-hall, in Suffolk. They were cultivated in 
Flanders, 1276. The most extraordinary grape-vine in this 
country is that at Hampton Court, which came from Hamburgh. 
It is above 110 feet long; at three feet from the ground the stem 
is nearly thirty inches in circumference. It is of the black Ham- 
burgh grape, and the quantity it bears in some seasons exceeds 
2500 bunches. 

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 

The plantation and management of gardens, which form so 
useful and important an appendage to the dwellings of all classes, 
especially to the nobility and gentry, where adequate space can be 
allowed for their proper adjustment and cultivation, appears to 
have been first an object of attention early in the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury, during the reign of Henry VIII., whose taste led him to 
encourage horticulture. But it was not till the seventeenth cen- 
tury that it received its chief impulse under the fostering hand 
of Charles I., when flowers and curious plants were generally 
cultivated under the auspices of Parkinson, who first filled the 
office of herbalist to that monarch; and Tradescant, a Dutch¬ 
man, who was his gardener, and established a botanic garden at 
Lambeth in 1629. The botanic garden at Oxford, the first public 
institution of the kind, was founded in 1632 by Jacob Bobart, a 
German, and from that time both botany and horticulture have 
been in a flourishing state. The Botanic Gardens at Kew and 
Cambridge followed in the middle of the eighteenth century; 
and the Horticultural Society of London was founded at the 
beginning of the present century. 

The style and arrangement of the ground in its several depart¬ 
ments, especially as regards the flower or pleasure garden, was 
not fixed on a permanent basis till about the reign of William 
and Mary, and was introduced by the Earl of Albemarle, who 
was a Dutchman, and has thence been called the Dutch style; 
a good specimen of it may be seen at Hampton Court, a favourite 
residence of king William. This style of yew hedges and formal 
avenues was long the prevailing fashion. The culture of the yew 
has ever been promoted in England from the time of the con¬ 
quest ; and few old churchyards are to be found that cannot boast 
their yew-trees.* 

* At Bedfont, on the road to Windsor, in the churchyard, are two yews 
cut in topiary (clipped) work, among which are figures exhibiting the date 
of 1704. The tops of the trees are formed into "the shape of peacocks.— 
Lysons’ Environs, Yol. v. p. 10. 











THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


239 


CROCUS. 

This flower derives its name from Crocus, a young man who, 
as Heathen mythology informs us, pined away into a flower, which 
has since bore his name. This flower, as affording saffron, is men¬ 
tioned in Scripture in Solomon’s Song, iv. 14, which was much 
esteemed as a medicine and as an aromatic, and entered largely 
into the cookery of our forefathers. 

NARCISSUS. 

This flower derives its name from the following mythological 
circumstance. Narcissus, son of Cephisus and Liriope, was so hand¬ 
some that all the nymphs fell in love with him; but he slighted 
them all. Echo, among the rest, could not influence him to 
regard her; returning, however, one day from the chase, he 
looked into a fountain, and was so enamoured of his own beauty, 
that he languished away, and was metamorphosed into a flower, 
which from that time bore his name. 


ACANTIIA. 

Acantha, a young and beautiful nymph, who, for having given 
a favourable reception to Apollo, was changed into a plant of the 
same name. 


THE COWSLIP. 

“ Cowslip, of all beloved, of all admired; 

Thee let me sing, the homely shepherd’s pride; 

Fit emblem of the maid I love, a form 
Gladdening the sight of man; a sweet perfume, 

Sending its balmy fragrance to the soul. 

Daughter of Spring, and Messenger of May, 

Which shall I first declare, which most extol, 

Thy sovereign beauties, or thy sovereign use?” 

The Cowslip derives its name from a very old and fanciful, but 
now exploded idea—that this flower was generated from the 
saliva of the cow's lip; to corroborate which, it has been stated, 
that it is only found in pastures where milch cows have grazed. 
It is, however, known as the Yelloiv-bell, and is classed with the 
blue and hare bell, and has made its appearance where the cow 
was never known to have been. Genial weather at the com¬ 
mencement of the year, dresses the meadows and pastures with 
this favourite of Flora. 


THE DAISY. 

Passing the eye from the hedgerow to the earth, it lights on 
the “ wee-tipp’d” emblem of modesty—the daisy , sung by poets 



240 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of every clime where it blows, and so sweetly by our own Mont¬ 
gomery, who has designated it the Companion of the Sun. 

“ But this small flower, to nature dear, 

While Moon and Stars their courses run, 

Wreath the whole circle of the year, 

Companion of the Sun.” 

That modest little flower, the daisy, derives its name from clay's 
eye , arising from the circumstance of unfolding its simple beauties 
at the “ peep o’ day,” and earlier than any other of Flora’s tribe. 
— Flora's Guide. 

THE VIOLET. 


“ There is a flower 
So sweetly fair, 

In truelove’s bower 
It blossoms there; 
Its smile of gladness 
And azure ray, 
Bids gloomy sadness 
Haste far away. 


“ At early morning 
How sweet to rove, 
Where ’tis adorning 
The shady grove! 

There chastely blooming, 

It whispers, “ be 
Thou unassuming, 

O man, like me! ” 

J. E. Stablschmidt. 


Violet, violin, violoncello, are all derived from viol, signifying 
sweet, applicable to either sound or smell: the latter syllables 
being merely to distinguish, or harmonize. 

TULIPS. 

“ So beauty fades, so fleets its showy life, 

As droops the tulip, clad in all its pride 
Of rich array.” 

This beautiful but short-lived flower, was first introduced into 
this country by Lord Arlington, in the reign of Charles II. The 
tulip opens with the rising, and shuts with the setting sun. The 
bulb is termed by Linnaeus the hybernacle, or winter lodge of 
the young plant, and closes the infant in its folds, which 


“ In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies, 

And waits the courtship of serener skies.”— Darwin. 


Tulip-fancying has been carried to great excess. It is related 
that a connoisseur in the fancy, hearing of a person having in his 
possession a black tulip, instantly ordered his carriage, and, pro¬ 
ceeding to the possessor’s residence, expressed a desire to see this 
ram avis, which was instantly shown him; upon which he imme¬ 
diately offered 100 guineas for the same ! This was refused: two 
hundred was offered, but refused also; whereupon three hundred 
was bid, and the bargain struck. The virtuosi, on getting the 
tulip in his possession, immediately cut it in piecemeal before 
the astonished grower of it, exclaiming at the same time, “ Now, 
I am the only possessor of a black tulip in the whole country! ” 
















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 




Q_l - 


It turned out that he had one in his own garden, but as he 
could not endure another to possess a similar freak of nature, he 
took this means to insure it. 


WEEPING WILLOWS. 

The first Weeping Willow supposed to have been planted in 
England, was by Pope, which for a long time was known as 
Pope's Weeping Willow. Martyn says, “ The famous and admired 
weeping willow, planted by Pope, which has lately been felled to 
the ground (1801), came from Spain, enclosing a present for Lady 
Suffolk. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was taken 
off; he observed, that the pieces of stick appeared as if they had 
some vegetation; and added, perhaps they may produce some¬ 
thing we have not in England. Under this idea he planted it in 
his garden, and it produced the Willow Tree that has given 
birth to so many others.” 

PASSION FLOWED. 

This flower, says the elegant author of the “ Flora Domestica,” 
derives its name from an idea, that all the instruments of Christ’s 
Passion are represented in it, viz.,—the five wounds, the column 
or pillar of scourging, besides the three nails, the crown of thorns, 
&c. Most of the Passion flowers are natives of the hottest parts 
of America. 

DAMASK ROSE. 

The Damask Rose was brought into England in the year 1522, 
from Italy, by Dr. Linacre, physician to Henry VIII. 


LILY, &c. 

The Lily came from the Levant, the Jessamine from the East 
Indies, the Tube-rose from Java and Ceylon, the Carnation and 
Pink from Italy, and the Auricula from Switzerland. Intro¬ 
duced in the reign of Charles II. 

o 


HOLLYHOCK. 

This is merely a corruption from Holy-oak, a tree or flower 
held in much estimation by the Lady Abbesses and Nuns of old ; 
and which abounded in the gardens of convents, it being con¬ 
sidered by them as possessing sacred and protecting qualities. 

ROSEMARY. 

“ Come, funeral flower! who lovest to dwell, 

With the pale corse in lonely tomb, 

And throw across the desert g’loom 
A sweet decaying smell. 

R 





242 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


. Come, press ray lips, and lie with me 

Beneath the lowly alder-tree; 

And we will sleep a pleasant sleep, 

And not a care shall dare intrude 
To break the marble solitude, 

So peaceful and so deep.” 

Kosemary is a small, but very odoriferous shrub; the principal 
use of it is to perfume chambers, and in decoctions for washing. 
Its botanical name is rosmarinus, so called from ros, dew, and 
marinus, alluding to its situation on the seashore. It is seen 
mantling the rocks of the Mediterranean in winter, with its grey 
flowers glittering with dew. It was used to stick around the 
coflin of the dead, probably not only from its fragrance and 
funereal character, but also for some antiseptic qualities it was 
supposed to possess. Shakspeare alludes to it in Eomeo and 
Juliet, act iv. scene 5. 

“ Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary 
On this fair corse; and, as the custom is, 

In all her best array bear her to church.” 

HOLLY. 

“ Fairest blossoms drop with every blast, 

But the brown beauty will like hollies last.”— Gay. 

The Holly, or Ilex, is supposed to derive its name from the 
season in which it particularly flourishes (Christmas), being kept 
as holy by all who profess the faith of Christ. Of this tree there 
are several species, some of which produce yellow berries and 
some white. 

SALADS. 

Oil for salads is mentioned in the Paston Letters in 1466, in 
which year Sir John Paston writes to his mother, that he has 
sent her “ ij potts off oyl for saladys, whyche oyl was goode as 
myght be when he delyv’yd it, and schuld be good at the reseyving 
yf itt was not mishandled nor mycarryd.” This indicates that 
vegetables for the table were still cultivated in England, although 
the common opinion is, that most of our fruits and garden pro¬ 
ductions were destroyed during the civil wars between the houses 
of York and Lancaster. A good salad, however, had become so 
scarce some years afterwards, that Katherine, the queen of Plenry 
VIII., is said, on a particular occasion, to have sent to the con¬ 
tinent to procure one. Salad herbs were common some years 
afterwards. 

POTATOES. 

The Board of Agricultural Peport tells us (of this most useful 
and now universally well-known root), that it is a native of 
America, and was familiar to the Indians before the conquest of 
Mexico and Peru. It was called by them, amongst other names, 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


243 


“ openauk and in the History of the New-Found-land Virginia, 
by Heriot(a follower of Sir Walter Ealeigh, and printed in 1588), 
is described as “ a kinde of root of round form, some of the bio-- 
ness of wallnuts, some farre greater, which are found in moist 
and marish grounds, growing many together one with the other 
in ropes, as if they were fastened by a string. Being boyled,” 
he says, “ or sodden, they are verie good meate.” Gerarde, in his 
“ Herbal,” is the first author who gives the figure of the potato 
plant. He calls it by the name of “ Solatium tuberosum,” which 
name has been followed by Linnaeus and his disciples. Sir Walter 
Raleigh, after returning from America in 1586, is said to have 
first given it to his gardener in Ireland, as a fine fruit from 
America, and which he desired him to plant in his kitchen gar¬ 
den in the spring. In August this plant flourished, and in Sep¬ 
tember produced a fruit, but so different from the gardener’s 
expectation, that in an ill-humour he carried the potato-apple to 
his master. “ Is this,” said he, “ the fine fruit from America you 
prized so highly 1 ” Sir Walter either was, or pretended to be 
ignorant of the matter, and told the gardener, since that was the 
case, to dig up the weed and throw it away. The gardener soon 
returned with a good parcel of potatoes. It was cultivated in 
the gardens of the nobility and gentry, early in the seventeenth 
century, as a curious exotic, and towards the close of it (1684) 
was planted out in the fields in small patches in Lancashire, from 
whence it was gradually propagated all over the kingdom, as 
well as in France. In the year 1847, a formidable disease broke 
out both in England and in Ireland in this valuable plant. It 
appeared first in the leaves and stalk, about the end of the sum¬ 
mer, which looked as if struck by lightning, faded, dead, and 
emitted a nauseous smell. The attack was sudden, and the 
effects permanent; as the disease in a few days affected the root, 
which became full of black specks, and quickly decayed, so as to 
render all storing impossible: a total famine in Ireland was the con¬ 
sequence, and great distress was experienced in England from 
the same cause. The disease is so inveterate, that it is still 
severely felt at the present time of writing, and though many 
theories have been broached as to its cause, and numerous 
methods adopted for its cure, it still resists all efforts for its 
removal. 

CABBAGES. 

According to Evelyn in his Sylva , even so ordinary but useful 
a legume as a cabbage, was in 1539 first imported from the 
Netherlands. Many years after this, it seems that England was 
still supplied with cabbages from Flanders. Bullein, in his Boke 
of Sim/ples, written in 1562, observes on this vegetable, that “it 
is good to make pottage withall, and is a profitable herbe in the 
common weal the, which the Fleminges sell deare, but we have it 






244 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


growinge in our owne gardens, if we would preferre our owne 
commodityes,” &c. He adds, “ there be greate plenty growing 
between Albrought and Hortliworth, in Sulfolke, upon the sea¬ 
shore.” Cauliflowers were as uncommon near the same time, 
and sold then and afterwards very high. As late as 1619, two 
cauliflowers cost 3s., and sixteen artichokes 3s. 4d., prices which 
would now be deemed extravagant, but they were at that time 
esteemed rarities, as they still are in remote parts of the king¬ 
dom. 

RADISHES, &c. 

Bullein, just quoted, says of this root, in 1562, “ of radish 
rootes there be no small store growing about the famous citie of 
London, though they be more plentiful than profitable, and more 
noysome than nourishing to man’s nature.” Of garden produc¬ 
tions, mentioned in a MS. of the steward of Sir Edward Coke, 
while Attorney-general between 1596-7, onions, .leeks, carrots, 
and radies, seem to have been chiefly used to make pottage for 
the poor. Holinshed tells us in his “ Chronicle,” written about 
this time, “ such herbes, fruites, and rootes also as growe yearlie 
out of the ground of seed, had become verie plentiful! in this land 
in the time of the First Edward, and after his daies; but in pro- 
cesse of time they grew also to be neglected, so that from Henrie 
IV., till the latter end of Henry VII. and beginning of Henrie 
VIII., there was little or no use of them in England, but they 
remained either unknowne, or supposed as food more mete for 
hogs and savage beasts to feed upon them than mankind; whereas, 
in my time, their use is not only resumed among the poore com¬ 
mons—I mean melons, pompions, gourds, cucumbers, radishes, 
&c., skerets, parsnips, carrots, cabbages, newewes, turnips, and 
all kindes of herbes; but also fed upon as daintie dishes at the 
tables of delicate merchants, gentlemen, and the nobilitie, who 
make their provision yearlie for new seeds out of strange coun¬ 
tries, from whence they have them abundantlie.” 

CELERY. 

Celery was first introduced to the English tables by Count 
Tallard, during his captivity in England, after the battle of Mal- 
plaquet in 1709. 

ARROW-ROOT. 

This plant, or vegetable, so highly prized in the sick chamber, 
derives its name from being an effectual antidote against the 
venom of the poisoned arrow, made use of by the Indians, parti¬ 
cularly by the Caribees, the plant or root abounding in the islands 
thus denominated. 

VEGETABLE FUNGI. 

An occurrence in the cellar of the late Sir Joseph Banks, may 
be acceptable in the mention to the curious, and excite particular 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


245 


sympathy in persons who recreate with the juice of the vine ; as 
a fact, it may tend to elucidate the origin and nature of vegetable 
fungi, particularly of that species termed Mushroom.^ The 
worthy baronet had a cask of wine rather too sweet for imme¬ 
diate use ; he therefore directed that it should be placed in a 
cellar, in order that the saccharine matter it contained, might be 
more perfectly decomposed by age. At the end of three years, 
he directed his butler to ascertain the state of the wine, when, 
on attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it, in 
consequence of some powerful obstacle. The door was cut down, 
and the cellar found to be completely filled with a firm fungus, 
vegetable production—so firm, that it was necessary to use the 
axe for its removal. This appeared to have grown firm, or have 
been nourished by the decomposed particles of the wine; the 
cask was empty, and carried up to the ceiling, where it was sup¬ 
ported by the surface of the fungus. 


VEGETABLE IVORY. 

The vegetable ivory is the dense albumen of a nut from which 
numerous elegant articles may be turned; an application of it 
first made in England. This nut has been known a long time, 
and comes from a tree which is nearly allied to the palms, or, 
according to Endlicher, to the Pandance. Euiz and Pavon call 
it PJn/telephas. Wildenow terms it Elephantasia. It grows, 
according to Humboldt, in the interior of South America, and 
not on the Mascara Islands, as stated by Morren. It (the nut) 
consists externally of four envelopes of differently formed paren¬ 
chyma; then follows the albumen, the proper so-called vegetable 
ivory, which is externally dense and white, and of a remarkable 
structure. We find, namely, towards the circumference, cavities 
of irregular form; they then become six-sided, and, when seen 
in section, short straight canals run out from each angle. The 
cavities have a quincunxial arrangement. All the rest appears, 
when strongly magnified, a dense substance. But when a drop 
of Canada balsam is added, we see distinctly that the dense sub¬ 
stance consists of parenchyma, and that the cavities communicate 
by the broader extremities of their branches. The internal 
structure resembles that of water plants; and the different den¬ 
sity and firmness might probably arise from the delicacy of the 
compressed parenchyma. 

SUGAR. 

The derivation of this word is valuable and curious, as it 
points out the native country of the sugar-cane, and throws a 
light on its ancient use. The French name sucre, and its other 
European denominations, may be traced to the Latin saccharum, 
which comes from the Greek sakcharon (^*;c a P 0V ) words intro- 





246 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


duced into Europe by the followers of Alexander, before whose 
time sugar appears to have been unknown even in Western Asia. 

Tea and sugar, which are now to be met with in most cottages 
in the South of England, were great rarities until comparatively 
of late years. The latter is, indeed, noticed by several authors 
even as early as the fourteenth century, but continued to be very 
dear even in James’s reign. It first came from Barbary and 
Cyprus, where the sugar-cane was introduced by the Moors, and 
from thence to Spain and the Canaries. From hence, on the 
discovery of America, it was transplanted to the Brazils; and 
about the year 1506, established in Hispaniola. Before it was 
cultivated in Africa or Europe, sugar was brought from the 
Indies by way of Damascus or Aleppo, and from thence to Eng¬ 
land by Venice, Genoa, or Pisa. Anciently honey was the chief 
ingredient used as a sweetener of our dishes and liquors, parti¬ 
cularly in mead and metheglin. Sugar, however, notwithstand¬ 
ing its extravagant price, was very generally substituted in the 
place of honey, even as early as the reign of Richard II., in great 
quantities, as is to be seen in several receipts of ancient cookery, 
and particularly in the kitchen accounts of that monarch. Sack 
and sugar was a favourite beverage with our ancestors, and is 
alluded to in several old plays. 

The first sugar-refining in England was carried on in 1659. 
Many attempts have been made to obtain sugar from European 
plants, and the maple and the beet-root have been employed with 
some success, especially in France; but the supply has never been 
found adequate to the demand. 

TEA. 

The Chinese are supposed to have first used Tea to correct the 
water of their ponds and rivers. Tea was probably very im¬ 
perfectly, if at all, known in England in the reign of James I., 
and certainly was very little used. Botero, who wrote about 
1590, seems to allude to tea in the following remark:—“The 
Chinese have also an herb, out of which they press a delicate 
juice, which serves them instead of wine; it also preserves their 
health, and frees them from all those evils that the immoderate 
use of wine doth bring unto us.” In a treatise on the East India 
trade, published in 1620, most of the commodities then imported 
are enumerated, but tea is not one of them. It was, perhaps, 
introduced on the establishment of the new India Company in 
1637, who then obtained permission to trade to China and Japan, 
to which the former India Company had not before adventured. 
No notice of tea, however, is taken in the Book of Rates annexed 
to the Act passed in 1660, for granting the King certain duties on 
different articles of importation; but in a subsequent Act, tea, 
coffee, and chocolate, are subjected to an excise. It is singular, 














TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


247 


in tlie Act alluded to, that the duty is imposed on the liquor 
composed from the articles specified, and not on the simple articles 
themselves. The Act says, “ for every gallon of coffee made and 
sold, to be paid by the maker, 4d.; for every gallon of chocolate, 
sherbet, and tea, made and sold, to be paid by the maker thereof, 
8d.from which it may be inferred, that none of those articles 
were then made by private families, but were purchased ready 
mixed from the compounder. The difficulty of collecting the 
duties in this form, their general unproductiveness, and the 
expenses they caused, occasioned the act to be repealed in the 
reign of William and Mary. Another writer says, tea or chaa , 
as it is called in China, was first brought to this country from 
Holland by Lord Arlington, in 1666. It is said to have been first 
brought to Europe by the Portuguese, and not understanding its 
qualities, or the mode of preparing it, the leaves were boiled, 
served up as greens, and eat with melted butter, the water in 
which they were boiled being thrown away! Within the last 
few years tea has been imported from Assam, and efforts have 
been made to promote its culture in our East India possessions; 
but as our recent relations with China have facilitated the com¬ 
mercial intercourse, the Chinese trade is still the principal source 
of supply. The consumption of Tea as a beverage has, however, 
been considerably affected by the substitution of Coffee, which is 
more nutritious and cheaper; and affords a greater encouragement 
to our Colonial trade. 


TOBACCO. 

Tobacco is a native of the East and West India, and particularly 
the island Tobago , or Tobago , from whence Tobacco , or Tobacco , 
is derived. Tobacco is said to have been first brought into 
England by Capta n R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake about 
the year 1586, and Sir Walter Raleigh to have introduced smok¬ 
ing it. Aubrey says, “ Sir Walter Raleigh standing in a stand 
in Sir Robert Poyntz’ park at Acton, took a pipe of Tobacco, 
which made the ladies quit it till he had done.” Fosbroke, in his 
Encyclopaedia of Antiquities, says, “ women as well as men used 
to smoke after supper, and when the children went to school, 
they carried in their satchels, with their book, a pipe of Tobacco ; 
this their mothers took care to fill early in the morning, to serve 
them instead of a breakfast. At an accustomed hour every one 
laid aside his book and lit his pipe, the master smoking with them, 
and teaching them how to hold their pipes. People went to bed 
with pipes in their mouths and rose in the night to light them, a 
custom retained in Spain. Our first Tobacco came from the 
Spanish West Indies; and in 1599 the seeds were brought to 
Portugal, and in the sixteenth century it began to be cultivated 
in the East Indies.” 





248 the etymological compendium. 

HOPS. 

They were, according to “ Baker’s Chronicles,” introduced into 
England in the year of our Lord 1524. 

“ Turkies, carps, hoppes, pi care! 1,* and beere, 

Came into Englande all in one yeare.” 

Hops were brought into England from the Netherlands, 
and are first mentioned as growing here, in the 5th and 6th 
Edward VI., and towards the middle of the same centuiy were a 
favourite cultivation of English farmers. The best hops are 
produced in England, and are chiefly cultivated in Kent and 
Sussex ; they are also grown to a limited extent in Surrey, Essex, 
Suffolk, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire, the soil 
and climate of each district giving a peculiar character to the crop. 
On the continent of Europe hops have been extensively cultivated, 
but never to perfection, the flowers having generally a rank smell 
and flavour. The plant has also been introduced into Canada, 
Van Diemen’s Land, and on the Himalaya mountains, with 
various success. 

BARLEY, BEER, BARME. 

The month of September was called by our Saxon ancestors 
Gerstmonat, for that barley, says Verstegan, which that moneth 
commonly yeelded, was antiently called gerst, the name of barley 
being given unto it by reason of the driuke therewith made, called 
beere , and from beerlejh it came to be berlegh , and from berlegh to 
barley. So in like manner beereheym , to wit, the overdecking or 
covering of beere, came to be called berkam , and afterwards bar me, 
having since gotton I wot not how many names besides.t This 
excellent and healthsome liquor, beere , antiently called ael, as of 
the Danes it yet is (beere and ale being in effect all one), was of 
the Germans invented, and brought in use.” It has been main¬ 
tained by some authors that there was no malt liquor known 
by this name, as distinguished from ale, which was the ancient 
liquor of England, and superseded mead; and was drank as early 
by the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. It was merely an inferior kind 
of barley, fermented, without any hops or other bitter ingredient. 
Beer as we now have it, is however of ancient date, being men¬ 
tioned in a statute of 1482 (23 James III. of Scotland), by which 
it was made a capital offence to mix “ wine” and beer ; and in 
1492 we find a licence to a brewer of Greenwich in Kent to export 
fifty tone of ale called “beer” or “here,” though hops were not 
used till a later period, yet other bitters as wormwood were used 
to promote its keeping. 

ALE. 

This term, denominating another truly English beverage, is 
derived from the Saxon ael. The Saxons called October ael- 
monat, or ael-monaih, i. e., the month which was principally 
* Pike or Jack. f Yeast, &c. 

















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


249 


dedicated to tlie brewing of this liquor. Dr. Paris, On Diet , says, 
the liquor called ale was originally made of barley,* malt, and 
yeast alone. We are told by one of the oldest writers on medical 
subjects (Andrew Boorde), that those who put in any other 
ingredient, sophisticated the liquor. It is, he says, the natural drink 
of an Englishman; but beer, on the other hand, which is made 
of malt, hops, and water, is the natural drink of a Dutchman, and 
of late is much used in England, to the great detriment of many 
Englishmen. There existed, for a long time, a strong prejudice 
against hops, which were considered as pernicious weeds; but it 
is now generally admitted, that they constitute the most valuable 
ingredient in malt liquors. Independent of the flavour and tonic 
virtues which they communicate, they precipitate, by means of 
their astringent principle, the vegetable mucilage, and thus 
remove from the beer the active principle of its fermentation; 
without hops, therefore, we must either drink our malt liquors 
new and ropy, or old and sour. There are several varieties of ale, 
distinguished by their colour; when the malt is slenderly dried, 
the ale is pale; or brown , when the malt is more roasted, or high 
dried. Those who sold Ale in England in olden time were called 
Ale-wives. John Skelton the Poet wrote and published a curious 
pamphlet on this subject, entitled “ Elynor Rummin, or Elynor of 
Ruminyng, alias, The Tunning of Elynor Eumpkyn, the famous 
Ale-wife of England,” &c. This was several times printed, and 
particularly in 1624. Two sheets, Loud. 4to. In the Title-page is 
the picture of an old ill-favoured woman, holding in her hand a 
black pot of ale, and underneath her these verses are written. 

When Skelton Avore the Laurel Crown, 

My Ale put all the Ale-wives tloAvn. 

Davies’s Icon Libellorum, p. 29. 

PORTER AND ENTIRE. 

Before 1730, the malt liquors in general use in London were 
called ale, beer, and a drink called twopenny. It was then custom¬ 
ary to call for a pint, or tankard, of half-and-half; i. e., half of 
ale and half of beer, or half of ale and half of twopenny. In 
course of time, it also became the practice to call for a pint, or 
tankard of three-threads , meaning a third of each, ale, beer, and 
twopenny, and thus the publican had the trouble to go to three 
casks, and turn three cocks for a pint of liquor. To avoid this in¬ 
convenience and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood conceived 
the idea of making a liquor, which should partake of the united 
flavours of ale, beer, and twopenny; he did so, and succeeded, 
calling it entire , or entire-butt , meaning that it was drawn entirely 
from one cask or butt; and as it was a very hearty and nourishing 
liquor, and supposed to be very suitable for porters, and other 
working jieople, it obtained the name of porter. 

* See Barley. 





250 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


The Genevese, in imitation of the Dutch (Hollands) were the first 
makers of this spirit, and called it Geneva, from whence origi¬ 
nated the English term of Gin. Although it is inferior in flavour 
to Hollands, it is considered, when unadulterated with noxious 
mixtures, to be equally as wholesome. 

PORT WINE. 

This wine derives its name from Oporto, in Portugal, which, like 
Bordeaux in France, is the principal port in that country from 
whence the Portugal wines are exported. 

Howell says, “ Portugal affords no wines worth transporting.” 
In our day, however, we think different. The custom of drinking 
Port wine began about 1703, the date of the Methuen treaty, it 
being deemed impolitic to encourage the vintage of France. 

Wine was first made in England in 1140. 

SHERRY. 

This wine derives its name from the province of Xeres, in 
Spain, where it is produced. 

HOCK. 

We have heard much of Hock, and many of us, no doubt, have 
tasted it: it is made at a village called Hocheim, in Germany, from 
which it derives its name. The following epitaph may be seen 
oil a tombstone there:— 

“This grave holds Gaspar Schink, who came to dine 
And taste the noblest vintage of the Rhine: 

Three nights he sat, and thirty bottles drank, 

Then lifeless by the board of Bacchus sank, 

One only comfort have we in the case— 

The trump will raise him in the proper place.” 


GROG. 

Old Admiral Vernon first introduced rum and water as a beve¬ 
rage on board a ship; the veteran used to wear a grogram cloak 
in foul weather, which gained him the appellation of Old Grog: 
from himself the sailors transferred this name to the liquor, and 
it may be a question to which of the grogs they were most at¬ 
tached.—See Notes and Queries , vol. i. pp. 52, 168. 

PUNCH Liquor. 

The liquor called Punch, says the “Asiatic Journal,” has be¬ 
come so truly English, that it is often supposed to be indigenous in 














THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


251 


this country, though its name at least is oriental. The Persian 
punji, or Sanscrit pancha, i. e.,fve, is the etymon of its title, and 
denotes the number of ingredients of which it is composed. Ad¬ 
dison’s fox-hunter , who testified so much surprise when he found, 
that of the materials of which this truly English beverage was 
made, only the water belonged to England, would have been 
more astonished, had his informant also told him that it derived 
its name even from the East. 

NEGUS. 

Wine and water first received this name from Francis Negus, 
Esq., in the reign of George the First. Party spirit ran high at 
that period between Whigs and Tories, and wine-bibbing was 
resorted to as an excitement. On one occasion, some leading 
Whigs and Tories having, par accident , got over their cups toge¬ 
ther, and Mr. Negus being present, and high words ensuing, "he 
recommended them in future to dilute their wine, as he did, which 
suggestion fortunately directed their attention from an argument 
which probably would have ended seriously, to one on the merits of 
wine and water, which concluded by their nicknaming it Negus. 

COFFEE AND COFFEE HOUSES. 

Coffee Houses were first established at Oxford. In the year 
1650, Jacob, a Jew, opened a Coffey-house at the Angel, in the 
parish of Saint Peter in the East, Oxon; and there it was by some, 
who delighted in novel tie, drank. 

In 1654, Cirques Jobson, a Jew and a Jacobite, born near 
Mount Lebanus, sold coffee in Oxon; and in 1655, Arthur Till- 
yard, apothecary, sold coffee publicly in his house against All 
Souls’ College. 

This coffey-house continued till his Majesty’s (Charles II.) 
return and after, and then became more frequent. It is also 
recorded in a “New View of London,” published in 1708, that 
one James Fair, a barber, who kept the house (which is now the 
Rainbow) by the Inner Temple Cate, one of the oldest in Eng¬ 
land, w T as in the year 1657 presented by the Inquest of St. 
Dunstan’s in the West, for making and selling a sort of liquor 
called coffee, to the great nuisance and prejudice of the neigh¬ 
bourhood. And who (adds the author) could then have thought 
London would ever have had 3000 such nuisances, and that coffee 
would have been, as now, so much drank by the first quality and 
physicians.—See also Notes and Queries , vol. i. p. 314. 


CHICORY. 

Chicory is the Cichorum intybus, a plant of the order Com- 
positse, indigenous in most parts of Europe. The root of Chicory 
and endive greens is used as a substitute for coffee. The leaves 





252 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


are also largely used in a manufactured state as a dye-stuff, 
called “pastel, or imitation woad,” of which they form the prin¬ 
cipal ingredient, for the purpose of rendering the colour per¬ 
manent in woollen cloths. 

NEWCASTLE SALMON. 

Previous to the year 1787, all salmon sent to London from 
Berwick were boiled and put into kits; but since that time 
they have been sent in boxes, stratified with ice, by which mode 
they are preserved for a considerable period. At a still previous 
time, the fish were carried by land to Newcastle, and there cured 
and shipped for London, where they are to this day called New¬ 
castle Salmon. 

STILTON CHEESE. 

The late Duke of Northumberland and suite, passing through 
Stilton on their way to the north, stopped at the Crown to take 
luncheon and change horses. On his grace (at that period earl 
Percy) inquiring of the landlord if he had any good cheese, one 
of the description now in vogue was placed on the table, which 
his lordship was so much pleased with, that he purchased half a 
dozen of the same, which the landlord had by him. The praise 
which his lordship bestowed on the cheese to all his friends and 
acquaintance, brought numerous applications to the landlord for 
similar ones, and consequently brought the cheese into great vogue, 
insomuch that at last he found his cheese trade as productive as 
his inn. Although the cheese is denominated by the name of 
Stilton, which is merely from the circumstance previously named, 
yet it is made in the vicinity of Melton Mowbray, and other parts 
of Leicestershire. 

NATIVE OYSTERS. 

Oysters were looked upon by the Romans as a “dainty dish;” 
and the poet Antonius has celebrated them in his verses. After 
the death of this poet, however, oysters were no more thought of; 
and it was not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that 
they were again brought into notice. Oysters are conceitedly 
said to be in season in every month of the year that has an R in 
its name, beginning with September, and ending with April; but 
the season in many places extends from August to May. Almost 
every city has its favourite oyster bank. In London the Col¬ 
chester and Milton oysters are held in most esteem. Edinburgh 
has her “Whiskered Pandores,” and latterly, “ Aberdour oysters 
and Dublin, the “ Carlingford” and “ Powldoodies of Burran.” 
For the convenience of obtaining a ready supply of oysters, they 
are often transported from their original beds, and laid down on 
proper places of the coasts, but these exiles are seldom found in 
such perfection as those which are called natives—that is, such 
as have never been rudely torn from their native homes, and 
sent on voyages of profit. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


253 


RED HERRINGS. 

Tu a curious old pamphlet, entitled Lenten Stuffe , the author 
says, “ the discovery of red herrings was owing to accident, by a 
fisherman having hung some in his cabin, where, what with his 
firing and smoaking, or smoaky firing, in that his narrow lobby 
(house), his herrings, which were as white as whalebone when he 
hung them up, now looked as red as a boiled lobster.” 

In the year 1745, when the Scots rebellion threatened most 
formidably, Herring, then archbishop of York, resolved, in case 
of extremity, to take arms himself, and oppose the rebels. His 
avowing his intention, gave occasion to orator Henley to nick¬ 
name him a Red-Herring! 

BREAD AND BUTTER. 

Bread and butter, &c., superseded Kychen grosse, or dripping, 
for breakfast, between the reigns of Edward 1Y. and Elizabeth, 
—Bread and cheese is mentioned as a common viand by Diogenes 
Laertius. 


LUXURIES, ARTICLES OF DRESS, TRADES, PROFESSIONS AND 


COMPANIES, PUBLIC-IIOUSE SIGNS, Ac. 


SHOES AND BOOTS. 

To whom the honour of the invention belongs, has never yet 
been satisfactorily ascertained by the Crispins of ancient or of 
modern times. That the Jews had them in use, appears from 
many passages of their history. “ Over Edom,” said the royal 
Psalmist, “ will I cast out my shoe.” Pliny, the Roman historian, 
attributes the invention to M. Tychius, resident somewhere in 
Boeotia; but he does not specify either time or place with sufficient 
certainty. It is beyond all doubt that they were introduced into 
Greece at a very early period. Apollo was always represented 
as wearing sandals, and was thence sometimes called Sandilarius. 
That the Greeks wore boots long before the days of Homer, has 
been proved from several passages in the Iliad. In the very first 
book, Chryses, in his pathetic appeal to King Agamemnon and 
his army to restore his daughter, addresses them thus— 

“ Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-booted Greeks.” 

Among the Romans, a good shoemaker was held in very high 
estimation; and the profession was held by them to be inalienable, 
as the jirofession of a priest is among ourselves. 

“ While boots and shoes are worn, their names shall be 
Proclaim’d by fame to all posterity.” 






254 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


RIGHTS AND LEFTS. 

Eights and lefts are only “ an old, old, very old” fashion revived. 
The shoes of Bernard, king of Italy, found in his tomb, were right 
and left; the soles were of wood, the upper part red leather, laced 
with thongs, and they fitted so closely, that the order of the toes, 
terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered. 
It is remarkable that, as in the present age, both shoes and slip¬ 
pers were worn shaped after the right and left foot. Shakspeare 
describes his smith as 

“ Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste 
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet.” 

And Scot, in his Discoverie of Witchcraft observes, “that he who 
receiveth a mischance, will consider whether he put not on his 
shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot.* 

GLOVES. 

Casaubon is of opinion, that Gloves were worn by the Chal¬ 
deans, because the word here mentioned is in the Talmud Lexicon 
explained, “ the clothing of the hand.” But it must be confessed, 
all this is mere conjecture; and the Chaldean Paraphrast may have 
taken an unallowable liberty with his version. Let us then be 
content to begin with Xenophon, who gives a clear and distinct 
account of gloves. Speaking of the manners of the Persians, he 
gives us a proof of their effeminacy; that, not satisfied with 
covering their head and their feet, they also guarded their hands 
against the cold with thick gloves. Homer, speaking of Laertes 
at work in his garden, represents him with “ gloves on his hands, 
to secure them from the thorns.” Varro, an ancient writer, is 
an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the Bomans. In 
lib. 2, cap. 35, De re Rustica , he says, that olives gathered by the 
naked hand are preferable to those gathered with gloves. 

Atheneeus speaks of a celebrated glutton, who always came to 
table with gloves on his hands, that he might be able to handle 
and eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the 
company. Strutt thinks gloves were not used in England till 
the tenth century, and then only by persons of rank and the 
clergy, and that they were not used by ladies until the latter end 
of the thirteenth century. 

NIGHTCAPS. 

Before we proceed to Hats and Caps, we will say something 
about the origin of that most unseemly and ungraceful thing,—a 
Man’s Nightcap. In former times, a hood was attached to the 
sleeping habiliment, somewhat similar to a monk’s cowl, until 

* Dr. Drake's Shakspeare and his times. 


I 


the etymological compendium. 255 

Henry II. of France, whose forte was the study of personal con¬ 
venience and ease, introduced the present nightcap. The middle 
and lower orders were forbidden to wear velvet or brocade ones, 
so that those classes had them originally made of woollen cloth. * 

PANTALOONS. 

Pantaloons, and Port Canons, were some of the fantastic 
fashions wherein we aped the French—and is derived from Pan- 
taleon or Pantaloon, in the pantomime. 

military uniforms. 

Military Uniforms were first introduced by Louis XIY., and 
immediately after by the English. 

liveries. 

Liveries originated in our British ancestors clothing their vas¬ 
sals in uniform, to distinguish families; as they painted arms 
and symbols on their clothes and arms for the same purpose. 

SERGEANT’S COIF. 

The Sergeant’s Coif was originally an iron scull-cap, w r orn by 
knights under their helmets. Blackstone says it was introduced 
before 1253, “to hide the tonsor of such renegado clerks as chose 
to remain as advocates in the secular courts, notwithstanding 
their prohibition by canon.” 

flannel shirts. 

Flannel was first used in Boston as a dress next the skin, by 
Lord Percy’s regiment, which was encamped on the Common, in 
October 1774. There was hardly flannel enough then in the 
whole town for that one regiment. Some time after Lord Percy 
had begun with flannel shirting, Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count 
Rumford) published a pamphlet in America, assuming to have 
discovered this practice. He might, perhaps, have suggested the 
use of it to Lord Percy. Flannel has not been in general use till 
within the last half century. 

BEDS. 

Beds, now such indispensable pieces of furniture, were to the 
Greeks and Romans articles of great luxury. When they ex¬ 
changed the leaves and skins of beasts, on which their heroic 
ancestors reposed, for mattresses and feather-beds, the bedsteads 
were made sometimes of ivory, sometimes of ebony, sometimes of 



256 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


cedar, and sometimes of silver. It would be difficult now-a-days, 
in the middle ranks of life, to find beds such as our ancestors 
slept on, not only with their wives and their children, but with 
their dogs and their friends; an invitation to such a couch was 
then considered the strongest proof of affection and confidence 
that could be given. 


BLANKETS. 

It has been said that in 1340, one Thomas Blanket, and some 
other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms in their own houses for 
weaving those woollen cloths, which have ever since been called 
Blankets; but this is doubtful, as the word Blanketum occurs 
in Du Cange, in the sense of an under-waistcoat of woollen, in 
which it appears that people slept without a shirt. 

HATS AND CAPS. 

The introduction of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, 
the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of 
Charles VII. into Rouen, and from that time they began to take 
place of the hoods or chaperons that had been used till then. 
When the cap was of velvet, they called it mortier —when of 
wool, simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights, were 
allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the head-dress of 
the clergy and graduates, churchmen, and members of universi¬ 
ties ; students in law, physic, &c., as well as graduates, wear 
square caps in most universities. Doctors are distinguished by 
peculiar caps given them in assuming the doctorate. Pasquier 
says, that the giving the cap to students in the universities, was 
to denote that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer 
subject to the rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient 
Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their slaves, in the ceremony 
of making them free. The cap is also used as a mark of infamy 
in Italy. The Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap at Lucca, 
and by an orange one in France. Formerly those who had been 
bankrupts, were obliged ever after to wear a green cap, to pre¬ 
vent people from being imposed on in any future commerce. 


MIRRORS. 

The first mirrors were made of metal. Cicero carries the 
origin of them up to TEsculapius : Moses, too, makes mention of 
them. It was in the time of Pompey that the first mirrors were 
made of silver at Rome. Pliny mentions a brilliant stone, pro¬ 
bably talc, thin slices of which being fixed upon bright metal, 
reflected objects with great perfection. The first mirrors of glass 
appeared in Europe at the latter end of the Crusades. 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


257 


SPENCERS. 

This article of dress originated with the late Lord Spencer. 
His lordship, when Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, being out a hunt¬ 
ing, had, in the act of leaping a fence, the misfortune to have one 
of the skirts of his coat torn off; upon which his lordship tore off 
the other, observing, that to have but one left was like a pig with 
one ear ! Some inventive genius took the hint, and having made 
some of these half-coats, out of compliment to his lordship, gave 
them the significant cognomen of Spencer ! 

WIGS. 

Wigs were first worn by the Romans, to hide baldness or de¬ 
formity of the head ; those of the Roman ladies were fastened 
upon a caul of goat skin. Periwigs commenced witli their Em¬ 
perors ; they were awkwardly made of hair, painted and glued 
together. 

The year 1529 is deemed the epoch of the introduction of peri¬ 
wigs into France ; yet it is certain that tkcs were in use here a 
century before. Fosbroke says, “that strange deformity, the 
Judge’s wig, first appears as a general genteel fashion in the seven¬ 
teenth century.” Archbishop Tillotson was the first bishop who 
wore a wig, which then was not unlike the natural hair, and worn 
without powder. Among the Curiosa Cantcibrigiensia , it may 
be recorded that Charles II., who as his worthy friend, the Earl 
of Rochester, remarked, 

“Never said a foolish thing, 

Nor ever did a wise one,”— 

sent a letter to the University of Cambridge, forbidding the mem¬ 
bers to wear periwigs, smoke tobacco, and read their sermons ! 

HAIR-POWDER. 

The powdering of the hair took its rise from some of the ballad 
singers, at the fair of St. Germaine, whitening their heads to make 
themselves appear ridiculous ; this was in the year 1614. It wa3 
first taxed in England, 1795. 

FANS, &c. 

Fans, muffs, masks, &c., and false hair, were first devised by the 
harlots in Italy, and from France in 1572. 

STAYS. 

Stays, like many other articles of dress, were first used in the 
reign of Henry II. of France. They were called Stays here, be¬ 
cause they were said to stay the obtrusive charms of woman. 

s 



258 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


A curious edict was passed by the Emperor Joseph II., of law¬ 
making notoriety, to restrain the use and fashion of stays ; in the 
preamble it set forth, that they impaired the health and impeded 
the growth of the fair sex; in all orphan-houses, nunneries, and 
other places of public education, they were strictly forbidden, and 
young ladies still persisting in the fashion, were threatened with 
the loss of the customary indulgences and countenance which were 
bestowed on their class ; thus they were made a sort of immo¬ 
rality. The College of Physicians also were enjoined to draw up 
a dissertation in support of the royal edict, which was distributed 
gratis. But what can a monarch do against fashion ? The liberty 
of the corset was soon re-established in Austria in its full severity. 


WOMEN’S BLACKS. 

This is the name of the common black worsted stockings, for¬ 
merly an article of extensive consumption ; they are now little 
made, because little worn. Black stockings were first introduced 
into England by Henrietta, daughter of Henry IV. of France, 
and queen of Charles I. Charles was the first who wore black 
stockings in England ; they were of silk, and Charles II. seldom 
wore any other, as the old prints and paintings testify. 

One of the greatest wholesale dealers in “ women’s blacks,” in 
a manufacturing town, was celebrated for the largeness of his 
stock ; his means enabled him to purchase all that were offered 
to him for sale, and it was his favourite article. He was an old- 
fashioned man, and while the servant-maids were leaving them off, 
he was unconscious of the change, because he could not believe it; 
he insisted that household work could not be done in white cottons. 
—Offers of quantities were made to him at reduced prices, which 
he bought; his immense capital became locked up in his favourite 
“women’s blacks whenever their price in the market lowered, 
he could not make his mind up to be quite low enough ; his ware¬ 
houses were filled with them. When he determined to sell, the 
demand had wholly ceased; he could effect no sales ; and, becoming 
bankrupt, he literally died of a broken-lieart—from an excessive 
and unrequited attachment to “ women’s blacks.” 

COACHES. 

The introduction of coaches into England, is ascribed by Stow 
to William Boonew, a Dutchmnn ; most accounts agree from 
Germany, but the precise date, except the sixteenth century, is 
uncertain. There was no coach-box ; the coachman rode on a 
saddle, as postilions do now. Strutt informs us, in his Manners 
and Customs of the English , vol. ii. p. 90, that Walter Ripon in 
1555 made a coach for the Earl of Rutland, which was the first 
ever made in England ; and in 1564, the same Walter made the 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


259 


first liollow turning coach, with pillars and arches, for her majesty ; 
and again, in 1584, he made a chariot throne, with four pillars 
behind to bear a canopy, with a crown imperial on the top, and 
before, two lower pillars, on which stood a Lion and a Dragon, 
the supporters of the crown, of England. 

It was Buckingham, the Favourite, who, about 1619, began to 
have them drawn by six horses, which, as an historian says, “was 
wondered at as a novelty, and imputed to him as mastering pride.” 
Before that time ladies chiefly rode on horseback, either single, 
on their palfreys, or double, behind some person, on a pillion. 
In the year 1672, at which period, throughout the kingdom, there 
was only six stage-coaches constantly running, a pamphlet was 
written and published by Mr. John Cresset, of the Charter-house, 
urging their suppression, and amongst other grave reasons given 
against their continuance, the author says, “ These stage-coaches 
make gentlemen come to London on every trivial occasion, which 
otherwise they would not do but upon urgent necessity : nay, 
the convenience of the passage makes their wives often come up, 
who, rather than come such journeys on horseback, would stay at 
home. Then, when they come to town, they must presently be in 
the mode, get fine clothes, go to plays and treats, and, by these 
means, get such a habit of idleness and love of pleasure, as make 
them uneasy ever after.” 

HACKNEY COACHES. 

Hackney coaches, as well as hackney horses, derive their 
name from the village of Hackney, which was, at a former period, 
of such great resort, that numbers of coaches and horses were in 
constant employ in carrying the citizens thither. It was in the 
year 1634 that Captain Bayley first introduced these coaches, 
when a tolerable long ride might then be procured for the small 
sum of 4 d. 

CABS, OR CABRIOLETS. 

These convenient vehicles, which have now almost entirely 
superseded the old hackney coach, were introduced into London 
by Maberley the well-known Banker, and Government contractor. 
Their form has undergone various modifications, but the public 
seem now to have decided on patronizing only two descriptions: 
the Clarence cab, which is very convenient for carrying four 
passengers and luggage—and the Hansom’s Patent, which is 
especially constructed for getting quickly over the ground. 

OMNIBUS. 

This is the name given to a peculiar kind of public carriage 
which takes passengers at a cheap rate. Ihey were first intro¬ 
duced into Paris in 1825, whence they were introduced into 



260 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


London by Shillibeer in 1829. When first introduced into Lon¬ 
don, they were drawn by three horses abreast. 

SEDAN CHAIRS. 

It was in 1634, that Sir Saunders Duncombe first introduced 
sedan-chairs., Sir Saunders was a great traveller, and had seen 
these chairs at Sedan, where they were first invented. 

SIDE SADDLES. 

The Princess Ann of Bohemia was the first who introduced 
side-saddles into England. It was in the year 1399 ; prior to 
which, ladies either rode on pillion, or astride like men. 

WALKING-STICKS. 

Walking-sticks were first introduced into fashion by the 
effeminate Henry II. of France, but did not become a requisite 
appendage to the gentlemen of fashion in England till the year 
1655, at which time they were formed with an indented head, in 
order to afford a more easy pressure of the hand which they sup¬ 
ported. Ingenuity, which, in matters of fashion, is for ever on 
the alert, now crowned it with the addition of the round and 
hollow top, which sometimes contained nutmeg or ginger, to warm 
the stomach of the valetudinarian, and sometimes sugar-candy 
for the asthmatic; but snuff soon after coming into universal use 
among the bon ton of society, the cavity was exclusively appro¬ 
priated to its reception ; and the meeting of two friends was 
invariably marked, after the first salutation, by the unscrewing 
of the tops of their walking-sticks. 

STANHOPE. 

So called from being introduced into the beau monde by the 
Hon. Mr. Stanhope. 

DENNET. 

A vehicle which derives its name from the inventor, whose 
name was Dennet. 

TANDEM. 

This equipage derives its name from the Latin words tan dem , 
i. e,, at length ; one horse preceding the other. It is a cognomen 
somewhat far-fetched, but it is accounted for by saying, it is of 
University origin. 

USE OF MAHOGANY IN ENGLAND. 

Hr. Gibbons, an eminent physician, in the latter end of last, 
and beginning of the present century, had a brother, a Yfest 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


261 


I India captain, who brought over some planks of mahogany as 
ballast. As the doctor was then building him a house in King 
Street, Covent Garden, his brother thought they might be o^f 
service to him. But the carpenters finding the wood too hard 
for their tools, it was laid aside for a time as useless. Soon after, 
Mrs. Gibbons wanted a candle-box; the doctor called on his 
cabinet-maker (Wollaston, in‘Long Acre), to make him one of 
some wood that lay in his garden. Wollaston also complained 
that it was too hard. The doctor said he must get stronger tools. 
The candle-box was made and approved ; insomuch that the 
doctor then insisted on having a bureau made of the same wood, 
which was accordingly done ; and the fine colour, polish, &c., 
were so pleasing, that he invited all his friends to come and see 
it, and among them the Duchess of Buckingham. Her Grace 
begged some of the same wood of Dr. Gibbons, and employed 
Wollaston to make her a bureau also: on which the fame of 
mahogany and Mr. Wollaston was much raised, and things of 
this sort became general. 

TORTOISE SHELL. 

This substance consists of certain large liorn-like epidermoid 
plates, which cover, in an imbricated or overlapping manner, the 
carapace or back shell of the marine tortoises, or turtles ( Chelone ). 
The species which afford the most valuable of these plates are— 
the Karet tortoises, or imbricated turtles (Chelone imbricata r 
Chelone caretta), from which are obtained five large plates off the 
middle of the carapace, and four large ones off each side ; these 
plates, thirteen in number, are technically called ‘bladestwenty- 
five smaller plates are obtained from the margin of the carapace, 
which are called th o, feet or noses, in commerce. The other plates, 
collectively, are called the head of the turtle. 

IRISH BOG-YEW. 

For a series of Irish Bog-yew decorative furniture, designed 
to illustrate the history, antiquities, animal and vegetable pro¬ 
ductions, &c., of Ireland, see the Official Descriptive and Illus¬ 
trated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition , vol. ii. p. 735. 

D’OYLEYS. 

These dessert napkins take their term from a very respectable 
warehouseman of the name of D’Oyley, whose family of the same 
name had resided in the great old house next to Hodsoll, the 
banker’s, from the time of Queen Anne. This house, built by 
Inio-o Jones, which makes a prominent feature in the old 
engraved views of the Strand, having a covered up-and-down 
entrance which projected to the carriage way, was pulled down 


262 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


about 1782, on the site of which was erected the house now 
occupied in the same business. 

i 

BOAT’S PAINTER. 

At the trial of a smuggler in Sussex, some time ago, it was 
deposed by a witness, that there was nothing in the boat but the 
tubs and the 'painter . Upon which the counsel, whose duty it 
was to cross-examine the witness, got up and said—“ You say 
there was nothing in the boat but the tubs and the 'painter; I 
wish to know what became of him , did lie run away.”—(Here 
there was great laughing). It was then explained to the learned 
counsel, that the painter mentioned was nothing but a rope! 

The rope, which is coiled up in the boat, and which is constantly 
employed in hawling, &c., is called the boat’s painter, because, 
from its being saturated with tar, and its continual friction 
against the boat, the latter becomes daubed or painted with the 
adhesive or greasy matter with which the rope is covered. 


HAMMER-CLOTH. 

This covering to the coachman’s seat, or box, is derived from 
the German hammer , which implies a coat, or covering. 

ATTORNEY. 

In the time of our Saxon ancestors, states a work entitled 
Saxon Anomalies , the freemen in every shire met twice a year, 
under the presidency of the Shire Reeve, or Sheriff, and this 
meeting was called the Sheriff’s torn. By degrees the freemen 
declined giving their personal attendance, and a freeman who 
did attend carried with him the proxies of such of his friends 
as could not appear: he who actually went to the Sheriff’s torn, 
was said, according to the old Saxon, to go “ at the torn,” and 
hence came the word attorney, which signified, one that went to 
the torn for others, carrying with him a power to act or vote 
for those who employed him. 

I do not conceive (continues the writer), that the attorney has 
any right to call himself a solicitor, but where he has business in 
a court of equity. If he choose to act more upon the principle of 
equity than law, let him be a solicitor by all means, but not 
otherwise, for law and equity are very different things, neither 
of them very good, as overwhelmed with forms and technicalities; 
but upon the whole, equity is surely the best, if it were but for 
the name of the thing. 

TAILOR. 

A tailor now means a maker of clothes, whereas its origin is 
the French word tattler, to cut, or cut out, whence it appears the 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


263 


trade of clothes-making was divided into a great many branches, 
1 such as planner, cutter-out, sewer, &c., or that every body 
originally made his own clothes, and merely employed the tailor 
to give him the most fashionable outlines of a suit. 

STATIONERS. 

Anterior to the invention of Printing, there flourished a craft 
or trade, who were denominated Stationers; they were scribes 
and limners, and dealers in manuscript copies, and in parchment 
and paper, and other literary wares. It is believed by our anti¬ 
quaries, that they derived their denomination from their fixed 
locality or station in a street, either by a shop or shed, and pro¬ 
bably, when their former occupation had gone, still retained their 
dealings in literature, and turned to booksellers.* This denomi¬ 
nation of Stationers indicating their stationary residence, would 
also distinguish them from the itinerant venders, who, in a more 
subordinate capacity at a later period, appear to have hawked 
about the town and the country, pamphlets and other portable 
books. In the reign of Philip and Mary, “the Stationers” were 
granted a charter of incorporation, and were invested with the 
most inquisitorial powers. 


APOTHECARY. 

The character of an apothecary is so legibly imprinted on his 
front, that all his efforts to conceal it are useless. There is a 
bustling importance about him, which did not belong to the 
fraternity of former times. It is said by a waggish writer, that 
the apothecary of former times was a very humble being, and 
carried his drugs about with him in an earthenware vessel; and 
from a-pot-he-carries , was derived the cognomen of Apothecary. 
This, however, the modern sons of Galen would spurn, and would 
inform you that they receive their appellation from Apothecarius, 
an ancient and eminent compounder of drugs. 

YEOMAN. 

The title of Yeoman was formerly one of more dignity than 
now belongs to it! It signified originally a Yewman, so called 
from bearing the bow in battle. Hence, at first, a Yeoman was 
at least of equal consequence with an Esquire, and, as a proof of 

* Pegge, in his Anecdotes of the English Language, has somewhat crudely 
remarked, that the term Stationers was appropriated to booksellers in the 
year 1622; but it was so long before. It is extraordinary that Mr. Todd, 
well read in our literary history, admits this imperfect disclosure of Pegge 
into the “Dictionary of the English Language.” The terms Stationer and 
bookseller, were synonymous, and in common use in the reign of Elizabeth, 
and may be found in Baret's Alvearie, 1573. 


264 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


this, we have, even now, Yeoman of the Guards, of the Chamber, 
&c., all persons of rank. 

MEN MILLINERS. 

In former times, the ancient sisterhood of Tire Women, or 
Dressers, served only in the shops where ladies purchased their 
gewgaws; but when the Milaners, or persons from Milan, in 
Italy, first introduced their fashions into this country (and from 
whence the term Milliner is derived), it is supposed they also 
furnished us with the idea of employing the male sex for the 
vending of various articles of millinery, as is the custom in that 
country. They were first introduced into England in 1345. The 
ancient fraternity of Tire Women became totally extinct about 
1765. 

GROCER. 

This term, as applied to the venders of sugar, treacle, spices, 
&e., originally meant nothing more than a dealer by the groce, or 
in the gross, but which is now applied peculiarly to those who 
deal in the above articles. There are several other trades which 
bear a name, the limit or cause of which is now no more. 
Fosbroke says the Medicamentarii of the ancients very nearly 
resembled our modern Grocers. 

Another writer says—the term Grocer was originally employed 
to distinguish a dealer in goods in gross quantities, in opposition 
to the mere retailer; though now extended to all who deal in 
either way in the “ mystery of grocery,” a term in this instance, 
by the bye, rather oddly applied. The more ancient designation, 
however, of this fraternity, was that of the “ Pepperers,” on 
account of pepper being the principal article in which the grocer 
dealt. The fraternity were first incorporated as Grocers by a 
charter from Edward III., in 1345, which was renewed and con¬ 
firmed by several succeeding monarchs. A pepperer was still, 
however, not unlrequently a distinct business, and continued so 
till as late a period as 1559. In that year a quantity of pepper, 
having been taken in a Spanish carrack, was purchased from the 
queen at a good price, by certain exclusive dealers in that article. 
The grocers, however, endeavoured to undersell the pepperers, 
by making other importations of their own, which caused the 
latter to petition her Majesty, that no pepper might be imported 
for three years, which would enable them to keep their engage¬ 
ment with her Majesty; and to induce her to do so, they promised 
not to raise the price of pepper above 3 s. in the pound. 

TINKER. 

The trade of a tinker yet exists, though its respectability, if it 
ever had any, has disappeared; but the practice which caused the 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


265 


name has been long disused. A tinker was one who tink’d, be¬ 
cause formerly the tinkers went about giving warning to their 
vicinity by making a tinkling noise on an old brass kettle. 

OSTLER. 

An innkeeper is comparatively a modern title—host, or hosteler, 
is the ancient one; but in the shape of ostler, it has now univer¬ 
sally become the name of the host of the horses, not of the men 
—a singular proof of the active humanity with which ancient 
innkeepers attended to their guests, and as remarkable a proof of 
the additional pride of modern landlords. 

BUTLER. 

A Butler, who is now the superintendent of all the eating and 
drinking, but under the modern appellation of House Steward, in 
the house to which he belongs, was originally the mere bottler of 
the liquors—a pretty good proof of the wetness of our ancestors. 

MANTUA-MAKER. 

The names of places are sometimes preserved in trades, and 
the objects of trade, where no longer the slightest connection 
exists between them. Thus we have a Mantua-maker, a name 
at first given to persons who made a particular cloak or dress 
worn at Mantua, in Italy. 

MILLINER. 

Milliner, so called because the Milanese were the first Milliners, 
or, as they were called, Milaners; deriving their name from the 
sale of a particular dress first worn at Milan, in Italy. 

CORDWAINER. 

Cordwainer,or Cordovaner, or fine maker of shoes from Cordova, 
or Spanish leather. The Cordwainers’ Company have a goat’s 
head for their crest, and repeated in their arms. 

DENTIST. 

This term, by which the tooth-reviser is designated, is derived 
from the French word dent, i. e., tooth; and the concluding 
syllable is added, as in art-ist, or chym-ist, or any other word ter¬ 
minating with ist; merely for the sake of harmony. 

COSTERMONGER. 

This a corruption of Costard-monger; Ben Jonsonuses it both 
ways, and it is noticed of his costermonger, by Mr. Archdeacon 




263 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Hares, that “he cries only pears.” That gentleman rightly 
defines a costard-monger, or coster-monger, to he “ a seller of 
apples;” he adds, “ one who generally kept a stall.” He says 
of Costard, that, “as a species of apple, it is enumerated with 
others, but it must have been a very common sort, as it gave a 
name to the dealers in apples.” 

HUXTER. 

Holme, in his heraldic lauguage, says of a liuxter, “ He 
beareth gules, a man passant, his shirt or shift turned up to his 
shoulder; breeches and hose azure, cap and shoes sable, bearing 
on his back a bread basket full of fruits and herbs, and a staff 
in his left hand, or.” Huxter, or liutler, is a Saxon word, and 
implies a dealer in bread and vegetables. 

PEDLAR. 

This is a corruption from Paddler, i. e., one who goes from 
place to place—an Itinerant. Holme in his heraldic language 
describes the pedlar thus—“ He b^aretli argent, a crate-carrier, 
with a crate upon his back, or; cloathed in russet , with a stalfe 
in his left hand; hat and shoes, sable .” 

PORTER. 

One who attended at the ports (originally) for the departure or 
arrival of vessels, being employed to carry luggage or packages 
to and fro; hence he was called a porter. Holme says, “ He 
beareth vert a porter carrying a pack argent , corked sable; 
cloathed in tawney , cap and shoes sable. This is the badge and 
cognizance of all porters and carriers of burthens;” but that there 
may be no mistake, he adds, “ they have ever a leather girdle 
about them, with a strong rope of two or three fouldings hang¬ 
ing thereat, which they have in readiness to bind the burdens 
to their backs when called thereto.” 

BARBER. 

Holme derives the denomination Barber from barba, a beard, 
and describes him as a “cutter of hair;” he was also anciently 
termed a poVer, because in former times to poll was to cut the 
hair; to trim was to cut the beard, after shaving, into form and. 
order. 

BARBER'S POLE. 

The origin of the Barber’s Pole is to be traced to the period 
when the barbers were also surgeons, under the denomination 
of Barber-surgeons, or Barber-chirurgeons, none other in former 
times being allowed to “ let blood.” To assist this operation, it 
being necessary for the patient to grasp a staff, a stick or a pole 
was always kept by the Barber-surgeon, together with the fillet 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


267 


or bandaging used for tying the patient’s arm. When the pole 
was not in use, the tape was tied to it, that they might be both 
forthcoming when wanted. On a person coming to be bled, the 
tape was disengaged from the pole, and bound round the arm, 
and the pole was put into the person’s hand: after it was done, 
it was again tied on, and in this state the pole and the tape 
were often hung at the door, for a sign of notice to passengers 
that they might there be bled. At length, instead of hanging 
out the identical pole used in the operation, a pole was painted 
with stripes round it, in imitation of the real pole and its ban- 
dagings, and thus came the sign. 

SHAVING-BRUSHES. 

Before the year 1756, it was a general custom to lather with 
the hand ; but the French barbers about that time brought in the 
brush. It was an old saying—“ A good lather is half the shave.” 

RESTAURATEUR. 

This term, so generally applied to tavern-keepers in France, 
and particularly to the cooks, took its name from a Parisian vint¬ 
ner, named Boulanger, the first to supply the public with soups, 
in the year 1765, placing over the door this verse from the Bible: 
— Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis , et ego Restaurabo 
vos! The bait took such effect, that others in the same line took 
his example, and the restorative powers of their aliments, added 
to the singularity of the invitation to partake of them, occasioned 
their being distinguished by an appellation which has since been 
indiscriminately applied. 

SURGEON. 

This term, as applied to medical men, is derived from Chirur* 
geons, who were formerly incorporated with the barbers, under 
the denomination of Barber-chirurgeons. In course of time, 
however, they separated; the “letters of blood” taking upon 
themselves the new made cognomen of Surgeons; and the pollers 
of hair, and shavers of chins, the old moiety of their original 
united appellation of Barbers. 


CORN-FACTORS, &c. 

About fourscore years back (now upwards of a century), says 
Harriott, in his Struggles through Life , corn-factors, meal-men, 
and middle-men, as now designated, and well understood, were 
then unknown. My grandfather was then a baker of some repute 
in the city, and it was from my father, and sister’s brother, I 
learned the following history of the commencement of corn-fac¬ 
toring, and thence the other two. At this time, when the con¬ 
sumption of corn was small, compared to what it is now in the 



268 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


metropolis, there was no description of people that stood between 
growers of corn and bakers. The farmer brought his samples to 
town; and taking them to Bear-Quay, near the Custom-house, 
met the bakers, who were the principal buyers of bread corn, and 
there made their bargains with each other. It is unnecessary to 
detail concerning other grain, which was sold in the same direct 
manner to the other purchasers; and it is thence that the present 
corn market, in Mark-Lane, is still called Bear-Quay Market. 

The farmers, according to circumstances ami situation, put up 
at different inns, &c., when they came to town; the Green Dragon 
and Bull Inns in Bishopsgate Street, were two among others to 
which farmers resorted. The landlords of these two inns, in 
particular, were men in good esteem, and by habit became well 
acquainted with the quality and value of corn; insomuch, that 
the farmers who used their houses, would request of them at times, 
when they had not sold, to take the samples to Bear-Quay on the 
following market-day, and sell for them; paying themselves after¬ 
wards for their trouble, &c. The farmer soon found that this 
made a considerable saving to him, in preference to staying in 
town till next market-day, or making another journey. At 
length, the farmer finding that the innkeeper sold the corn as 
well as he could, and confiding in his host, thought he might 
frequently save his own time, as well as the expense of the journey, 
by sending the samples up to the innkeeper to sell, and do the 
best for him ; agreeing to give an allowance of 3 d. a quarter for 
the innkeeper’s commission. 

GOLDSMITHS’ YEAR MARKS. 

In Notes and Queries , vol. vi., occur the following notices of 
these marks:—In the year 1596, the Roman capital A was used; 
in 1597, B; and so on alphabetically for twenty years, which 
would bring us to the letter U, denoting the year 1615: the 
alphabet finishing every twenty years with the letter U or Y. 
The next year, 1616, commences with the old English letter St, 
and is continued for another twenty years in the old English 
capitals. In 1636 is introduced another alphabet called Court 
alphabet. 

From 1656 to 1675 inclusive, Old English capitals. 

Small Roman letters 
The Court alphabet. 

Roman capitals. 

Small Roman letters. 

Old English capitals. 

Small Roman letters. 

Roman capitals. 

Small Roman letters 
Old English capitals. 

The letter for the present year (1853) being J*. 


1676 to 
1696 to 
1716 to 
1736 to 
1756 to 
1776 to 
1796 to 
1816 to 
1836 to 


1695 

1715 

1735 

1755 

1775 

1795 

1815 

1835 

1855 


yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 

yy 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


269 


In this list it will appear difficult, at first sight, in looking at a 
piece of plate to ascertain its age, to determine whether it was 
manufactured between the years 1636 and 1655, or between 1696 
and 1715, the Court hand being used in both these cycles: but 
instead of the lion passant and leopard’s head in the former, we 
shall find the lion’s head erased, and Britannia, denoting the altera¬ 
tion of the standard during the latter period. 

The letters used as dates in the foregoing list are only those 
of the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, as denoted by the leopard’s 
head crowned. Other ITalls, at York, Newcastle, Lincoln, Nor¬ 
wich, Bristol, Salisbury, and Coventry, had also marks of their 
own to show the year; and have stamped gold and silver since 
the year 1423, perhaps earlier. Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin 
have had the same privilege from a very early period: and, more 
recently, Chester, Birmingham, and Sheffield. Thus it will be 
seen, that four marks or punches are used on gold and silver 
plate, independent of the makers’ initials or symbol, viz.: 

The Standard Mark. —For gold of the old standard of 22 carats, 
and silver of 11 oz. 2 dwts.; 

A lion passant for England. A lion rampant for Glasgow. 

A thistle for Edinburgh. A harp crowned for Ireland. 

For gold of 18 carats: 

A crown, and the figures 18. 


For silver of 11 oz. 10 dwts.: 


A lion’s head erased, and Britannia. 


The Hall Mark .— 

A leopard’s head crowned for Lon¬ 
don. 

A castle for Edinburgh. 

Hibernia for Dublin. 

Five lions and a cross for York. 

A castle for Exeter. 


Three wheat sheaves and a dagger 
for Chester. 

Three castles for Newcastle. 

An anchor for Birmingham. 

A crown for Sheffield. 

A tree and fish for Glasgow. 


The Duty Mark. —The head of the sovereign, to indicate that 
the duty has been paid: this mark is not placed on w’atch- 
cases, &c. 

The Date Mark, or variable letter, denoting the year as fixed by 
each Hall. 


HABERDASHERS. 

Minshew derives it from Ilabt ihr das , Teut. Possibly the real 
derivation is berdash , an old English neck-dress, whence a seller 
of this article was called a berdasher or haberdasher. But a word 
of so complex a structure, not apparently reducible to significant 
elements, must be strongly suspected of corruption, and the 
origin would naturally be looked for in France, from whence we 
derive the names of so many of our tradesmen, as butchers, tailors, 







270 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM, 


cutlers, chandlers, mercers, &c. Now the Dictionnaire de Lan¬ 
guedoc has, “ Debassaire, bonnetier, chaussetier, fabricant de bas,” 
from debasses , stockings. With us, “ The haberdasher heapeth 
wealth by hats,” but he usually joins with that business the trade 
of hosier ; and possibly, when the meaning of the French term 
was not generally understood in this country, the name of the 
article dealt in might have been added to give significance to the 
word, and thus might have formed hat-debasser , or hat-debasher, 
haberdasher. 

The Haberdashers were incorporated into a company in the 
year 1447; but it is probable that their number was not great, 
since in the reign of Henry YI. there were not more than a 
dozen Haberdashers’ shops in the whole city. How much they 
must have increased during the reign of Elizabeth may be inferred 
from the complaints made against them, that the whole street 
from Westminster was crowded with them, and that their shops 
made so gay an appearance as to seduce persons to extravagant 
expenditures. The business of the haberdasher was not, however, 
confined to the lighter articles of a lady’s wardrobe, as at present, 
but extended to the sale of daggers, swords, knives, spurs, glasses, 
dials, tables, balls, cards, puppets, inkhorns, toothpicks, fine 
earthen-pots, salt-cellars, spoons, tin dishes ; and even mouse¬ 
traps, bird-cages, shoeing-horns, lanterns, and Jews’-trumps, 
contributed to that gay appearance which the haberdashers’ 
shops are said to have made in the reign of our maiden queen. 


MERCERS’ COMPANY. 


This, which is one of the twelve principal companies, or such, 
says Pennant, who are honoured with the privilege of the Lord 
Mayor’s being elected out of one of them. Mercer by no means 
implied a dealer in Silks, for Mercery signified all sorts of small 
wares, toys, and haberdashery. This company was incorporated 


in 1393. 



MERCHANT-TAILORS’ COMPANY. 
“ A remnant of all shall be saved.” 


When Dr. South was appointed chaplain to the Merchant 
Tailors’ Company, he took the above appropriate text, when he 
preached his inauguration sermon. 

This company in former times was merely denominated the 
Tailors Company, until Henry VII., who was himself a member 
of it, gave them the title of Merchant Tailors ; this was in the 
year 1501. Edward, the Black Prince, was a member of this far- 
famed company, and most of the kings of England, since the 
reign of Edward III., down to George IY. Continental Sove¬ 
reigns, Princes, Marshals, and Generals, have been, and are 
enrolled in the same. This is also one of the twelve principal 
companies. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


271 


LORINER. 

Among tlie various companies of the city of London, some of 
which have very peculiar, and not generally understood names, 
this is one. Loriner is from the French Lorimer , signifying a 
maker or manufacturer of bridle bits, stirrups, and other saddler’s 
ironmongery. The time has gone by with the Loriner’s Company, 
as well as with others, when they granted their freedom or livery 
to those only who were of the trade by which the company was 
denominated. 

PUBLIC-HOUSE SIGNS, &c. 

“I’m amused at the Signs 
As I pass through the town, 

To see the odd mixture— 

A Magpye and Crown, 

The Whale and the Crow, 

The liazor and Hen, 

The Leg and Seven Stars, 

The Axe and the Bottle, 

The Tun and the Lute, 

The Eagle and Child, 

The Shovel and Boot.” 

Bristol Apollo , 1710. 

Public-house Signs, especially in and about the metropolis, 
present some laughable absurdities, a specimen of which is given 
in the above compound of rhyme and prose. Englishmen, it is 
said, are fond of contradictions, a corroboration of the truth of 
which is not only to be found in the sign-board of the tavern, 
but in the foaming bowl of punch which is to be procured there. 

As this work professes to embrace a little of every thing, the 
origin of some of the ijiost remarkable tavern appellations and 
public-house signs will now be noticed, satisfied that the reader 
will feel an interest in the same; for 

“Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round, 

Where’er his various tour has been, 

Mav sigh, to think how oft he found 

His warmest welcome at an Inn.”— Shenstone. 

THE HUMMUMS. 

An hotel, situated in Covent Garden, and famed for its hot and 
cold baths. Dr. Shaw, in his Travels, says, that hummums is a 
corruption of kammum, the Arabic term for a bath or bagnio. 
Parso^i Ford, who so conspicuously figures in Hogarth’s Modern 
Conversation, died in the latter house. The first bagnio, or bath, 
for sweating or hot bathing in England, it is believed, was that 
in Bagnio Court, Newgate Street, which afterwards became an 
hotel, or lodging-house, after which the Hummums in Covent 
Garden were opened upon the same plan. 



272 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM, 


THE FLYING HORSE. 

The Flying Horse was originally intended to represent the 
Pegasus of the ancients ; consequently it is not so unmeaning a 
sign as it has been thought to be. 

THE HAT AND TUN. 

A house so named in the vicinity of Hatton Garden was evi¬ 
dently intended to allude to the family of the Hattons, whose 
mansion formerly stood near the spot. This sign is obviously a 
Eebus. 

SIMON THE TANNER OF JOPPA. 

In Long Lane, Southwark, there is a house so named, probably 
having its origin in the times when Scripture names were adopted 
for men and things. In Acts x. 32, we read, that the apostle 
Peter dwelt for some time at the house of Simon a tanner. 

THE BEAR AND RAGGED STAFF. 

This, being part of the armorial bearings of the Earls of War¬ 
wick, has been set up in honour of that noble house; while others 
bear the name of the “Earl of Warwick,” and “Guy, Earl of 
Warwick.” The arms were, doubtless, the original sign, but lat¬ 
terly only the name has been used. 

BRACE, KING’S BENCH. 

This place was originally kept by two brothers of the name of 
Partridge, from whom it obtained the present title, being a pun 
upon their name, they being a Brace of Partridges. 

THE GRAVE MORRIS. 

A house so named, stands opposite the London Hospital. A 
painter was commissioned to embody the inscription; but this 
knight of the brush was not possessed of a poet’s eye, and therefore 
could not depict the form of things unknown or imaginary. The 
sign is in consequence written up, “ The Grave Morris.” 

In Junius’s Etymologicon , Grave is explained to be Comes, or 
Count, as Palsgrave is Palatine Count; of which we have an in¬ 
stance in Palsgrave-liead Court, Strand, so called in memory of 
the Palsgrave Count, or Elector Palatine, who married Princess 
Elizabeth, daughter of James I. Their issue was, the Palsgrave 
Charles Louis, the Grave Count, or Prince Palatine Eupert, and 
the Grave Count, or Prince Maurice. 

THE SWAN WITH TWO NECKS. 

This sign has long been an object of mystery to the curious ; 
but this mystery has been explained by the alteration of a single 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


273 


letter. The sign was originally written “The Swan with two 
Nicks;" the meaning of which we find to be thus fully explained, 
in a communication to the Antiquarian Society, by the late Sir 
Joseph Banks. 

At a meeting of the Antiquarian Society, held in the year 1810, 
Sir J osepli Banks presented a curious roll of parchment, exhibiting 
the marks or nicks made on the beaks of the swans and cygnets 
in the rivers and lakes in Lincolnshire ; accompanied with an 
account of the privileges of certain persons for keeping swans in 
these waters, and the duties of the king’s swan-herd in guarding 
these fowls against depredators; also, for regulating their mark?, 
and for preventing any two persons from adopting the same figures 
and marks on the bills of their swans. Thus, from the circum- 
tance of marking these swans with nicks, originated the sign of 
the “ Swan with two Nicks,” now corrupted into the “ Swan with 
two Necks.” 

GOAT AND COMPASSES. 

This sign, so well known to those who visit Chelsea, is derived 
from the days of the Commonwealth, when it was the fashion of 
the enthusiasts of that period to append scriptural quotations to 
the names given them by their parents, or to adopt them entirely 
instead. This rage for sacred titles, induced them also to coin 
new names for places and things. The corruption “ God encom- 
passeth us,” to “ Goat and Compasses,” is obvious, and seems 
quite natural. The house is now called the “Compasses.” 

BAG OF NAILS. 

The Bag of Nails, at Chelsea, is claimed by the smiths and car¬ 
penters in its neighbourhood as a house originally intended for 
their peculiar accommodation; but had it not been for the cor¬ 
ruption of the times, it still would have belonged to the Bacchanals, 
who, in the days of the rare Ben Jonson, were accustomed to 
make a holiday excursion to that pleasant part of the environs of 
London. One age has contrived to convert Bacchanals into Bag 
o’ Nails ; may not a future age take the liberty of converting 
Bacchanalians into that of Bag o’-Nailians ? 

JOHN O’ GROAT’S HOUSE. 

James IV. of Scotland sent Malcolm Gavin, and John de Groat, 
two brothers, into Caithness, with a letter written in Latin, recom¬ 
mending them to the kind regards of the people of that county. 
—They became possessed of lands in the parish of Anisley, on the 
banks of the Pentland Firth, which was equally divided between 
them. In course of time there were eight families of the same 
name, who shared alike, and lived comfortably and peaceably for 

T 



274 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


many years. These were accustomed to meet, to celebrate the 
anniversary of the arrival of their progenitors. At one of these 
meetings it became a matter of dispute which of them was entitled 
to enter first, and take the head of the table, which had like to 
have terminated fatally, but for the presence of mind of John de 
Groat, proprietor of the ferry, who remonstrated with them; 
pointed out the necessity of unanimity as regarded their own 
happiness, their respectability among their neighbours, and gene¬ 
ral safety from the inroads of those clans who might envy them, 
and take advantage of their dissensions. He then proposed the 
building of a house, to which they should contribute equally; and 
he promised at their next meeting he should so order matters, 
as to prevent any dispute about precedency. Having gained their 
assent, he proceeded to build a house, with a distinct room of an 
octagonal form, having eight doors and eight windows, in which 
he placed a table of oak, with eight sides. At the next annual 
meeting he desired each to enter singly at different doors, and 
take the head of the table, himself entering the last, and taking 
the remaining unoccupied seat. By this ingenious manoeuvre 
they were all placed on an equal footing, and good-humour and 
harmony were restored and established. Such was the origin of 
the sign of u Jolm o’ Groat’s house.” 

VALENTINE AND ORSON. 

There is a house so named in Long Lane, Bermondsey. It 
would appear to have originated with some romantic reader, who 
had been affected with the tale of these two brothers, who were 
sons of the Emperor of Constantinople, Alexander, who married 
the beautiful sister of Pepin, king of France, named Bellisant; 
who being banished by the Emperor during her pregnancy, having 
been falsely accused by his prime minister, she took refuge in the 
forest of Orleans, in France, where she was delivered of male 
twins: one of which was taken from her by a she-bear, and suck¬ 
led by it for some time, hence called Orson. The other being 
discovered hy the king, Pepin her brother, during her search after 
Orson, was brought up at the court of his uncle. Orson being a 
terror to the neighbourhood when he grew up, was overcome by 
his brother, and tamed so far as to be brought to court. Shortly 
after overcoming the Green Knight, he received the hand of the 
Lady Fezon, previous to which he had attained the power of 
speech; and Valentine married Eglantine, the king’s daughter, 
when they discovered they were cousins. 

THE GUY’S HEAD. 

This sign was intended to do honour to the philanthropy of 
Mr. Thomas Guy, who founded the hospital in the Borough 
which bears his name, and which cost the sum of £18,793 :16:1; 
and the sum left for its endowment was £219,499 :0 :4. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


275 


BLACK DOLL AT RAG SHOPS. 

The Black Doll, used as a sign by the dealers in rags, is by 
some supposed to have originated with a person who kept a 
house for the sale of toys and rags in Norton Flogate, about eighty 
years ago. An old woman brought him a large bundle for sale, 
but desired it might remain unopened until she called again to 
see it weighed. Several weeks elapsed without her appearing, 
which induced the master of the shop to open the bundle, when 
he found a black doll , neatly dressed, with a pair of gold earrings 
appended. This he hung up over his door, for the purpose of 
being owned by the woman who left it. Shortly after this she 
called, and presented the doll to the shopkeeper, as a mark of 
gratitude for his having, by its means, enabled her to find out 
her bundle. The story having gained circulation, this figure has 
been generally used by dealers in rags, ever since this original 
instance of honesty in this class of merchants. Such is the 
romance of the black doll; the reality will be found, we believe, 
in the fact, that cast off clothes having formerly been purchased 
by dealers in large quantities, for the purpose of being resold to 
merchants, to be exchanged by them in traffic with the uncivi¬ 
lised tribes, who it is known will barter any thing for articles of 
finery; a black doll gaily dressed out, was adopted as the sign 
of such dealers in old apparel. 

PUBLIC-HOUSE CHEQUERS. 

Few people, it is presumed, are aware of the origin of the 
Chequers, which are seen on the sides of the doors or window 
shutters of public-houses. By some it is said, that they repre¬ 
sent the arms of a nobleman in whom the right of licensing was 
formerly invested. By others, they have been regarded as an 
intimation that the game of tables might be played therein by 
the customers. But whatever be its origin, this mark of a house 
of entertainment boasts of a very high antiquity ; for on the sides 
of the doorway of one of the houses at Pompeii, the Chequers are 
still seen, and which is supposed to have been an inn. 

THE BELL SAVAGE. 

The etymology of the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill, has been 
variously, but very incorrectly given; the following, however, 
may be relied on as correct. The Bell Savage, now called lebelle 
>Sauvage, took its name from those premises once being the pro¬ 
perty of lady Arabella Savage, who made a deed of gift of them 
to the Cutlers’ Company ; corroborative of which, a painting may 
be seen in Cutlers’ Hall, representing her ladyship, accompanied 
by her conveyancer, presenting the said deed of gift to the 
Master and Wardens of the aforesaid company. 



276 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


THE BOLT-IN-TUN. 

A game the Roman and Grecian youth were wont to exercise 
themselves in. The bolt was a short javelin, and the tun was 
placed as a kind of target; he who threw the bolt through a 
small hole in the tun, being declared victor. The origin of this 
sign is given by authors, as being the monogram of the Abbot 
Bolton, who bore for his device a Bolt in a Tun, as may be seen 
in the Abbot’s window in the church of Bartholomew the Great, 
Smitlifield. 


TIIE BULL AND MOUTH, AND BULL AND GATE. 

The two inns here named, are a strong specimen of the corrup¬ 
tion so prevalent in the designation of public resorts in and 
about the city of London, indeed throughout the whole country. 
The original names were Boulogne-Mouth and Boulogne-Gate, 
in commemoration of the destruction of the French flotilla at the 
mouth of Boulogne harbour, and of the capitulation of the town 
being signed at the gate of Boulogne in the reign of Henry VIII. 
The Bull and Mouth is now called the Queen’s Hotel. 

DOG AND DUCK TAVERN. 

The sign of this once very popular tavern, took its name from 
a famous dog which hunted ducks in a sheet of water on this 
spot. Over a low small-gabled-end fronted house, was seen, in an 
oblong square place, moulded in a kind of red composition, the 
dog and duck. 

SPREAD EAGLE. 

The Spread Eagle, which constitutes with some variations the 
arms of Austria ancl Prussia, originated with Charlemagne, the 
first Emperor of Germany, who added the second head to the 
Eagle, to denote that the empires of Rome and Germany were 
in him united. This was a.d. 802. 

NONESUCH HOUSE! 

We have seen in the neighbourhood of London, and in various 
parts of the country, “ Nonesuch House,” or “ Nonesuch Cottage,” 
&c. This term originated from the residence of Hans Holbein, 
the celebrated painter to Henry VIII., which stood on London 
Bridge. It was entirely framed of wood, was made in Holland, 
and when placed on the bridge was completed without a single 
nail; in consequence of which, Sir Thomas More christened it, 
“ Nonesuch House!” and which has since become a cognomen 
for various residences and villas throughout the country. 

COAL-HOLE TAVERN. 

. A tavern so called in Fountain Court, Strand, a well-known 
site for midnight gossiping. Here the most celebrated comedians 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


277 


have long entertained their private convivial friends after they 
have delighted the town. Here, too, certain poets, painters, 
sculptors, musicians, and other ingenious wights, who prefer late 
hours, a smoky room, and hilarity, to the sober comforts of 
domestic home, waste the night in glorious independence, fearless 
of the curtain lecture that appals the uxorious wight, who some¬ 
times trespasses against the orders of the house. The Coal-hole 
merely derives its name from its gloomy situation, and its original 
contiguity to a coal-yard. 

BLOSSOMS INN. 

The Blossoms Inn, Lawrence Lane, derives its name from the 
rich borders of flowers which adorned the original sign of St. 
Lawrence. These were the effects of his martyrdom—“ for,” 
says the legend, “ flowers sprung up on the spot of his cruel 
martyrdom.” 

CATHERINE WHEEL. 

Alban Butler says, St. Catherine was beheaded under the 
Emperor Mexentius, or Maximinus the Second. He adds, “ she 
is said first to have been put upon an engine made of four wheels, 
joined together and stuck with sharp pointed spikes, that when 
the wheels were moved her body might be torn to pieces. At 
the first stirring of this terrible engine, the cords with which the 
martyr was tied were broke asunder by the invisible power of an 
angel, and, the engine falling to pieces by the wheels separating 
one from another, she was delivered from that death.” Hence 
the name of St. Catherine’s Wheel. It has also given name to a 
peculiar form of window in Gothic architecture, in which the 
spokes of a wheel are represented. It thus differs from the 
Marigold window, the compartments of which are shaped like the 
petals of that flower. 

THE THREE LEGS. 

This public-house sign, and which is more general in the country 
than in London, is the arms of the Isle of Man. Its ancient 
bearing was a ship ; but the arms are now, and have been for 
centuries, gules “three armed legs” proper, or rather argent , 
conjoined in fess at the upper part of the thigh, fleshed in triangle , 
garnished and spurred topaz. So long as the King of Man wrote 
Rex Manniae et Insularvm , they bore the ship; but when the 
Scots had possession, with the Western Islands, the legs were 
substituted. It is said of the “ three legs,” that with the toe of 
the one they spurn at Ireland, with the spur of the other they 
kick at Scotland, and with the third they bow to England. 

TUMBLE DOWN DICK! 

This sign, once so well known in that part of the borough of 
Southwark, near to London Bridge, was set up on the restoration 


* 



278 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of Charles II., and was intended as a burlesque on Richard Crom¬ 
well, who had too much simplicity and honesty to manage the 
reins of government, which devolved on him on the death & of his 
father. 


LARK-HALL TAVERN. 

This place is of great antiquity; it stood in the midst of 
meadows and corn-fields, and was much resorted to by bird- 
catchers, who frequented this place with their nets ; and In time 
it became noted, and much resorted to by the Londoners on 
Sundays, who came here to purchase larks, and other singing- 
birds, from the bird-catchers, from whence it was called Lark-hall. 
At this period also, the bath-room, which now stands at the brow 
of the hill, a quarter of a mile west of Lark-hall, towards Clapham, 
was much frequented; and the spring which now supplies tlm 
present bath was also reckoned very salubrious, and boasted 
many fashionable visiters during the summer months; but there 

being no high-road, both that and the Lark were inacessible in 
the winter months. 

Over the entrance to Lark-hall tavern, is the follow!no- 
whimsical notice, which must be read backwards to be undei^ 
stood,—“ Tsurt Tonnac I; nos dull sie Man Ym ,ts uje Ru Saem 
dna, doogro uQil hTiW.” 


GOLDEN FLEECE. 

This sign, supposed to be the most ancient of any, and which 
we meet with in almost every provincial town, has a classi¬ 
cal derivation ; applying to the Golden Fleece which was brouo-ht 
from Colchis by Jason, about 1263 years before Christ. 


PUBLIC BUILDINGS, INNS OF COURT, WARDS, CHURCHES. STREETS 
AND LOCALITIES OF LONDON AND WESTMINSTER. 


F.U1N JLAUJN . 


M?fi e • T n J; on .^e find Of the City of London in history, says 
Maitland, is by the illustrious and celebrated Roman historian, 
Flatus, by the appellation of Londmium, when he acquaints us 
that Suetonius Pauhnus, the Roman general, being employed in 
the conquest of the Isle of Mona, or Anglesey, in North Wales he 
received advice of the revolt of the Britons; wherefore, with the 
utmost expedition,, he began his march to the assistance of the 
veterans and colonies; and, marching through the midst of the 
enemy, arrived at London which then was celebrated for its great 
nurnbei of merchants, and plenty of merchandise. 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


279 


As to the etymology of the word London, antiquaries are not 
agreed; Geffrey of Monmouth derives it from Caer-Lud , or 
Lud’s-town: Erasmus, from Lindum , a city of Rhodes: Vitus, 
from Lugdu a Celtic prince, Lugdon: Selden, from Llan-Dyn, 
the Temple of Diana; this conjecture is founded upon the great 
number of boars’ tusks (found in the neighbourhood of St. Paul’s 
cathedral), horns of oxen, and stags, whose bodies were proper 
sacrifices to that deity. Somner derives it from Llawn, Plenus , 
and Dyn, Homo , a populous place, which he imagines London 
always to have been, which I take to be (continues Maitland) 
an appellation very unsuitable with the low condition this city 
has been many times reduced to ; especially when the whole of 
its inhabitants were destroyed by Boadicea. Camden derives it 
from Lhong and Dinas; Lhong, signifying a ship, and Dinas , a 
town, that is, ship-town, or a city of ships. The first author who 
speaks of London ( Londinium ) as a city, is Cornelius Tacitus, 
who also calls it Augusta. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions an 
ancient place once called Londinium , but then Augusta; and 
again refers to it under the name of Augusta Trinobantum , 
There is a very curious transcript in the Tower of an ancient 
document relative to the antiquity of London, presented to 
Henry VI. in the seventh year of his reign (1427), when taken 
out of the city archives. A brief translation of this old manu¬ 
script is as follows:—Among the noble and famed cities of the 
world, that of London, the only seat of the realm of England, is 
the chief; the fame of which is known far and near. It is remark¬ 
able for wholesome air; but, above all, for the Christian religion. 
Its liberties and ancient foundation being, according to records, 
older than Rome ; built by Brute after the manner of Troy, long 
before the time of Romulus and Remus; and to this day the 
manners, customs, liberties, and rights of Troy are universally 
enjoyed!” 

PAVING OF LONDON. 

London was unpaved till 1417; when Henry IV., convinced 
that Holborn was deep and dangerous, ordered two ships to be 
laden with stones, at his own expense, each 20 tons in burden, to 
repair it. 

LONDON BRIDGE. 

Stow, in liis Survey of London , says, a ferry being kept in the 
place where now the bridge is built, at length the ferryman and 
his wife deceasing, left the said ferry to their daughter Mary, which, 
with the goods left her by her parents, as also with profits arising 
from said ferry, built a House of Sisters, in the place where now 
standeth the east part of St. Mary Over’ier’s Church,* above the 
quire where she (Mary) was buried; into which house she gave 

* A corruption of St. Mary, over the river. 



280 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


the profits and oversight of the ferry. But afterwards, the said 
House of Sisters being converted into a College of Priests, the 
priests built the bridge of timber, as all other great bridges of 
the land were, and from time to time kept the same in repara¬ 
tions ; till at length, considering the great charges of repairing 
the same, there was, by aid of citizens and others, a bridge built 
with arches of stone. Now, touching the foundation of the stone 
bridge, it followeth thus: About the year 1176, the stone bridge 
over the river Thames, at London, was begun to be founded by 
Peter of Colechurch * near unto the bridge of timber, but 
somewhat more towards the west; for I read that Botolph Wharf 
was, in the Conqueror’s time, at the head of London Bridge. 
The king assisted this work, a cardinal then being legate here; 
and Bichard, archbishop of Canterbury, gave 1000 marks towards 
the foundation. The course of the river for the time, was turned 
another way about, by a trench cast for that purpose, beginning, 
as it is supposed, east about Kotherhithe, and ending in the west 
about Patricksey, now termed Battersea. This work, to wit, the 
arches, chapel, and stone bridge, having been thirty-three years 
in building, was, in the year 1209, finished by the worthy 
merchants of London,—Serle Mercer, William Almaine, and 
Benedict Botewright, principal masters of the works; for Peter 
of Colechurch deceased four years before it was completed. The 
present bridge is 928 feet long, and was built from the designs of 
John Rennie, a native of Scotland, and of his sons John and 
George. The first stone was laid June 15, 1825, and the bridge 
publicly opened by William IV., 1831. It is built of granite, 
and is said to have cost, including the new approaches, near 
two millions of money. The lamps are made from cannon taken 
in the Peninsular war. It is the last bridge over the Thames, 
or the one nearest the sea. 


THE THAMES. 

“Majestic river! fraught with riches 
From ev’ry shore. The Indus and the Ganges, 

With other mighty streams renown’d, 

Hail thee as their chief; 

Yield thee the produce of their clime, 

And give thy nation homage.” 

This river, so famed in the commercial world, derives its name 
from a compound of 1 hame and Isis, and which in process of 
time came under the familiar denomination of Thames. The 
junction was formed a little above Oxford, but the Isis now is 
lost in the compound term, as the river is denominated the 
Thames even to its very source. The banks of the Thames have 
long been famed for the beauty of verdure, and taste with which 

* Chaplain of the church of St. Mary Colechurch, in the Poultry. 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


281 


they are adorned. They are studded with neat cottages, or 
elegant villas crown the gentle heights; the lawns come sweep¬ 
ing down like carpets of green velvet to the edge of its soft-flow¬ 
ing waters, and the grace of the scenery improves until we are 
home into the full bosom of its beauty—the village of Richmond, 
or, as it was anciently called. Sheen. * Below London Bridge we 
have Greenwich, and other beautiful scenery of the county of 
Kent. The opposite bank on the Essex side is flat, and is famed 
for nothing but Tilbury Fort, where Elizabeth, when the Spanish 
Armada threatened this country, reviewed her troops who were 
collected to repel the invaders. 

THE NEW RIVER. 

During the reigns of queen Elizabeth and James I., acts of 
parliament were obtained for the better supplying of the metro¬ 
polis with water: but the enterprise seemed too great for any 
individual, or even for the city collectively, to venture upon, until 
Mr. Hugh Middleton, a native of Denbigh, and goldsmith of 
London, offered to begin the work. The Court of Common 
Council accepted his offer; and having vested him with ample 
powers, this gentleman, with a spirit equal to the importance of 
the undertaking, at his own risk and charge began the work. 
He had not proceeded far, when innumerable and unforeseen 
difficulties presented themselves. The art of civil engineering 
was then little understood in this country, and he experienced 
many obstructions from the occupiers and proprietors of the lands 
through which he was under the necessity of conducting this 
stream. 

Hie distance of the springs of Amwell and Chadwell, whence 
the water was to be brought, is twenty miles from London ; but 
it was found necessary, in order to avoid the eminences and 
valleys in the way, to make it run a course of more than thirty- 
eight miles. “ The depth of the trench,” says Stow, “ in some 
places, descended full thirty feet, if not more ; whereas, in other 
places, it required as sprightful arte againe to mount it over a 
valley, in a trough betweene a couple of hills, and the trough all 
the while borue up by wooden arches, some of them fixed in the 
ground very deepe, and rising in height above twenty-three foot.” 

The industrious projector soon found himself so harassed and 
impeded by interested persons in Middlesex and Hertfordshire, 
that he was obliged to solicit a prolongation of the time to ac¬ 
complish his undertaking. This the city granted, but they 
refused to interest themselves in this great and useful work, 
although Mr. Middleton was quite impoverished by it. He 
then applied, with more success, to the king himself; who, upon 
a moiety of the concern being made over to him, agreed to pay 

* See Richmond. 





232 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


half the expense of the work already incurred, as well as of the 
future. It now went on without interruption, and was finished 
according to Mr. Middleton’s original agreement with the city ; 
when, on the 29th of September, 1613, the water was let into the 
bason, now called the New River Head, which was prepared for 
its reception. By an exact admeasurement of the course of the 
New River, taken in 1723, it appeared to be nearly thirty-nine 
miles in length. This great undertaking cost half a million of 
money, and was the ruin of its first projector ; who parted with 
his interest in it to a Company called the New River Company, 
in whose hands it still remains, reserving to himself and his heirs 
for ever an annuity of <£100 per annum. This annuity ceased to 
be claimed about the year 1715. 

The property of the New River is divided into seventy-two 
shares; for the first nineteen years after the finishing of the work, 
the annual profit upon each share scarcely amounted to twelve 
shillings. A share is now considered to be worth £11,500, and 
they have been sold as high as £14,000. 

WATER PIPES, 

Water was first conveyed to London by leaden pipes, 21 Henry 
III., 1237. It took near fifty years to complete it; the whole 
being finished, and Cheapside Conduit erected only in 1285. An 
engine erected at Broken Wharf, to convey water by leaden pipes, 
1594. The New River brought to London from Amwell, in 
Hertfordshire, by Sir Hugh Middleton, in 1613. The city sup¬ 
plied with its water, by conveyances of wooden pipes in the streets, 
and small leaden ones to the houses, and the New River Com¬ 
pany incorporated, in 1620. So late as queen Anne’s time, there 
were water-carriers at Aldgate-pump. 

BRIDGE HOUSE ESTATES. 

“ Towards the support and repairs of London Bridge, which 
was built, as before stated, in the reign of Henry II., king John, 
his son, gave divers parcels of ground, in London and its vicinity, 
to build upon, the profits whereof were to be continually employed 
as above stated. Hence this property has been called the Bridge 
Estates, or Bridge House Estates.”— Maitland's London. 

ROYAL EXCHANGE. 

The first Royal Exchange was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. 
The first stone was laid June 7, 1566, and the building opened 
by Queen Elizabeth in person, January 23,1570. This Exchange 
was destroyed in the great fire of 1666. Pepys describes its ap¬ 
pearance as a sad sight, nothing standing there of all the statues 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


283 


and pillars, but Sir Thomas Gresham in the corner. The second 
Exchange was built by Edward Jarman or Jerman, one of the 
City Surveyors. It is said to have cost £58,962, and was destroyed 
by tire January 10, 1838. The statue of Sir Thomas Gresham 
again escaped uninjured. The present building was built from 
designs of William Tite, and opened by Her Majesty in person 
October 28, 1844. The pediment was made by R. Westmacott 
R.A. (the younger), the marble statue of Her Majesty in the 
quadrangle by Lough ; and the statues of Sir Thomas Gresham, 
Sir Hugh Middleton, and Queen Elizabeth, by Messrs J oseph, 
Carew, and Watson. It is said to have cost £180,000. 

STATUES, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 

As the origin of the statues in the Royal Exchange may not 
be generally known, the original precept issued by the Court of 
Aldermen for the erection of the one to Charles II. is here intro¬ 
duced, and which also alludes to the origin of the other statues 
therein placed. 

SMITH, MAYOR. 

Martis Vndecimo Die Novembr’ 1684, Annoque Regni Regis 
Caroli Secundi , Angl’, &c., Tricessimo Sexto. 

Whereas, the statue of king Charles the First (of blessed 
memory) is already set up in the Royal Exchange, and the Com¬ 
pany of Grocers have undertaken to set up the statue of his 
present Majesty, and the Company of Cloth workers that of king 
James, and the Companies of Mercers and Fishmongers the 
statues of queen Mary and queen Elizabeth, and the Company 
of Drapers that of Edward the Sixth, this court doth recommend 
it to the several companies of this city hereafter named, viz., the 
Companies of Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haber¬ 
dashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, Dyers, Brewers, Leather- 
sellers, Pewterers, Barber-Chirurgeons, Cutlers, Bakers, Wax 
Chandlers, Tallow Chandlers, Armourers, Girdlers, Butchers, 
Sadlers, to raise money by contributions, or otherwise, for setting 
up the statues of the rest of the kings of England (each company 
one), beginning at the Conqueror, as the same were there set up 
before the Great Fire. And for the better order of their proceed¬ 
ing herein, the master and wardens, or some members of the 
said respective companies, are desired within some convenient 
time to appear before this court, and receive the further direc¬ 
tions of this court therein. 

And in regard of the inability of the Chamber of London to 
advance monies for the carrying on and finishing the Conduit, 
begun to be set up with His Majesties approbation, at the upper 
end of Cheapside, it is earnestly recommended from this Court 
to all the rest of the Companies of this City (other than those 
before named), to raise moneys likewise by contributions, or 



234 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


otherwise, for the carrying on and finishing the said work, so 
necessary to the ornament of this city ; and to pay the same into 
the Chamber, to be laid out and employed for the said purpose. 
— Wag staffe. 

GRASSHOPPER. 

The grasshopper on the top of the Royal Exchange, was the 
crest of Sir Thomas Gresham. 

GRESHAM COLLEGE AND LECTURES. 

So denominated from Sir Thomas Gresham, who founded the 
same. A writer says:—To Sir Thomas Gresham, who lived in 
the reign of queen Elizabeth, and who was styled the Royal 
Merchant, in consequence of feasting ambassadors and entertain¬ 
ing princes, the city of London is indebted for the Royal Ex¬ 
change, which he erected at his own expense, and liberally endowed 
a College for Lectures, which are now almost a dead letter, as 
few persons ever think of attending the Gresham Lectures, which 
are given during the law terms. When the Gresham Lectures 
were established, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons left 
in trust to see proper persons appointed, sent letters to the 
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, stating, that for want 
of judgment to discern men of most sufficiency in the said facul¬ 
ties, they might make default, and commit some error in the 
election; they therefore prayed each University to nominate two 
proper persons to fill the offices of professors. Strange as it 
may seem, the heads of Cambridge were jealous of these lectures, 
nor was it until Lord Burleigh gave them leave, that they consented 
to act. The first Gresham College was taken down in 1768, and 
the ground on which it stood made over to the Crown for a 
perpetual rent of £500 per annum. A new College was sub¬ 
sequently erected, and the first lecture read in it Nov. 2, 1843. 

CHARTER HOUSE. 

This celebrated school was instituted June 22, 1611, by Thomas 
Sutton of Camps Castle, in the county of Cambridge, and so 
called from a Monastery of Carthusian monks founded in 1371 
on a Pest-house field, by Sir Walter Manny, knight. St. Bruno 
was the founder of the Order of Carthusian Monks, and is styled 
by writers of his own age, Master of the Chartreuse; and 
from his order comes our Charter House at London. 

LLOYD’S COFFEEHOUSE. 

Lloyd’s Coffeehouse was originally in Lombard Street, at the 
corner of Abcliurch-lane, subsequently in Pope’s-LIead Alley, 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


285 


where it was called New Lloyd’s Coffeehouse; but on February 
14, 1774, it was removed to the north-west corner of the Royal 
Exchange, where it remained until the destruction of the building 
by fire. During the rebuilding the subscribers occupied the 
South Sea House; but on the reopening of the Royal Exchange 
they returned to their former locality. 

GERARD’S HALL. 

In Basing Lane formerly stood a stately stone edifice, belonging 
to the Gisor family, called Gisor’s Hall, but subsequently Gerard’s 
Hall. In 1852 this celebrated inn was doomed to destruction, 
owing to its standing in the way of the new street from London 
Bridge to St. Paul’s ; and its beautiful and much admired Norman 
crypt would have been destroyed, but for the commendable exer¬ 
tions of Mr. Deputy Lott, to whom the public are indebted for 
its preservation in the new Crystal Palace at Sydenham. 

BAKEWELL, OR BLACKWELL HALL. 

This hall, once famed as a cloth hall, was founded by the 
Mayor and Corporation (20th Richard II.) in the house formerly 
belonging to the family of the Basings, but subsequently in the 
possession of Thomas Bakewell, from whom the Hall derives its 
name. Bakewell Hall was rebuilt in 1588, destroyed in the great 
fire of 1666; re-erected in 1672, and ultimately taken down to 
make way for the present Bankruptcy Court in 1820. 

HICKS’ HALL. 

This building formerly stood in Saint John Street, facing 
West Smithfield; it was built by Sir Baptist Hicks, afterwards 
Viscount Camden, who was for some time a merchant in Cheap- 
side, and died in 1629. It was named after the builder; and 
the new building erected as the County Hall of Middlesex, in 
Clerkenwell Green, still retains its name. William Lord Russell, 
the patriot, was condemned to death in Hicks’ Hall; and Count 
Koningsmark, the real though not the actual assassin of Mr. 
Thynne, was acquitted in the same building. The distance on 
the milestones of the great north road were formerly measured 
from Hicks’ Hall. A few so marked still remain. 

SALTER’S HALL. 

This hall, which is in the vicinity of St. Swithin’s Lane, belongs 
to the Company of Drysalters. Some imagine that it derives 
its name from John Salter, who died in 1605. Certainly, the 
coincidence in name is indisputable, and what is more so, he 




286 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


was one of the Company, and was a good benefactor to them. It 
is said, that the beadles and servants of the Worshipful Com¬ 
pany of Salters are to attend divine service at St. Magnus’ Church, 
London Bridge, pursuant to the will of Sir John Salter, in the 
first week in October, and each person is to say three times, “How 
do you do, Brother Salter ? I hope you are well! ” The Salters’ 
Company was incorporated in 1558. 

GUY’S HOSPITAL. 

This celebrated hospital derives its name from Thomas Guy, a 
bookseller of Lombard Street, who is said to have made his for¬ 
tune ostensibly by the sale of Bibles, but more it is thought by 
purchasing seamen’s tickets, and by his great success in the sale 
and transfer of stock in the memorable South Sea Year of 1720. 
It is said of him, that when consulting with a friend relative to 
his will, the latter advised him to search the South Sea Books, 
and return, as had been done by one or two individuals possessing 
heroic virtues, the money to the perishing families that were un¬ 
done by the purchase of his stock. This advice he rejected, al¬ 
though by acting upon it, he was told he would have raised a 
monument to his memory, as much to His glory as the hospital, 
and added the praise of justice to his fame. The hospital was 
built 1721. He died 1724. 

FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 

The first Foundling Hospital was erected in Paris, in 1677. The 
London Foundling Hospital, which was projected and endowed 
by Captain Thomas Coram, was founded in 1739 ; began to re¬ 
ceive children, 1756 ; let part of their estate in 1797, which yields 
£2000 a-year in addition to their income. The celebrated Handel 
used to preside at the organ of the chapel of this institution ; and 
it may not be generally known, that his celebrated “ Messiah ” was 
concocted by him in this chapel; and which even now, at the 
present day, can boast of a musical choir equal to most of our 
cathedrals. 


BONNER’S FIELDS. 

Bonner’s Fields, so called after the celebrated Bonner, Bishop 
of London, who had a palace there. He entered at Oxford about 
1512; Bishop of Hereford, 1539; Bishop of London, 1540; de¬ 
prived, May 1550 ; and died in the Marshalsea Prison, Sept. 5, 
1569. 


BANCROFT’S ALMS-HOUSES. 

Bancroft’s Alms-Houses, so called after one Francis Bancroft, 
who left the sum of £28,000 and upwards to the Company of 



TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


287 


Drapers for tlieir erection and endowment. He was an officer of 
the lord mayor’s court, and died in 1729 worth £80,000, all of 
which he is s&id to have obtained by harsh acts of justice in his 
capacity as a city officer. Bancroft was a most eccentric charac¬ 
ter, and desired that the lid of his coffin should have a square of 
glass in it, that it should not be fastened down, and that it should 
remain above ground. This was conformed to, a conditional be¬ 
quest being attached to the fulfilment of it. He lies in Saint 
Helen’s Church, Great Saint Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street. 

WARDS. 

Though I cannot ascertain the time, says Maitland, when this 
city (London) was at first divided into wards; yet I am of opinion 
that the first division thereof was not on account of the govern¬ 
ment, but rather that London, like other cities and towns of the 
kingdom, was anciently held of the Saxon kings and nobility in 
demean, and whose several properties therein, being so many sokes 
or liberties, were under the immediate dominion of their respec¬ 
tive lords, who were the governors or wardens thereof; whence, 
I imagine, arose the Saxon appellation ward , which signifies a 
quarter or district: this opinion is not only corroborated by the 
wards of Baynard’s Castle, Farringdon, Coleman Street, and Bas- 
inghall or Bassishaw’s, still retaining the names of their ancient 
proprietors, but also by the other wards of the city being alien¬ 
able ; which, upon alienation, the purchaser or purchasers became 
the proprietor or proprietors thereof, with the additional epithets 
of alderman or aldermen. 

ALDGATE WARD. 

One of the twenty-six wards of London, and so called from 
Aldgate, a gate or postern in the city wall, towards the east. 

When the Saxons first possessed themselves of this city, they 
found this gate sorely decayed, and more ruinous than any of the 
rest, therefore they imposed the epithet of eald, or aid , upon it; 
i.e., old. 

QUEENHITHE WARD. 

The original name of Queenhithe was Edrid’s hitlie, or harbour. 
In Henry the Third’s time it fell to the crown, and was called 
Ripa Regina, or the Queen’s Wharf. It was probably part of 
her majesty’s pin-money, by the attention paid to her interest. 


CHEAP WARD. 

Cheap Ward, derives its name from the Saxon word chepe , a 
market, once applied to our Cheapside, which was formerly called 
West Cheap, in order to distinguish it from East Cheap. 




288 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


VINTRY WARD. 

Vintry Ward comprises a part of the north bank of the Thames, 
where the merchants of Bordeaux formerly bonded and sold their 
wines : the word vintry, is derived from vine-tree. 

• 

BILLINGSGATE WARD. 

Billingsgate, which “the ladies of the British Fishery” (as 
Addison has humorously designated them) have rendered of such 
notoriety, boasts of having had for an alderman the patriotic 
Beckford, a great scolder ! The derivation of Billingsgate is very 
ancient, being from Belin, King of Britain, about 400 years before 
Christ, who built a gate, and named it Belin’s Gate, after himself. 

BISIIOPSGATE WARD. 

A modern author conjectures this ward, says Maitland, to have 
derived its appellation from Erkenwald, Bishop of London, who 
first erected it, about anno 675: but I suppose it to have been so 
called, out of compliment to that excellent bishop, William Nor¬ 
man, who seems to have delighted in nothing more than doing 
good to the citizens. 

CRTPPLEGATE WARD. 

Westward from Moorgate stood Cripplegate, from whence this 
word takes its name. It was so denominated from the number 
of cripples who anciently begged there. 

ALDERSGATE WARD. 

The name of this ward is derived from the gate which stood 
here. Stow, speaking of this gate, says :—“ JEldresgate, or Ald- 
ersgate, so called, not of Aldrich or of Elders, that is to say, an¬ 
cient men builders thereof; nor of Eldarne trees growing there 
more abundantly than in other places, as some have fabled ; but 
from the very antiquity of the gate itself, as being one of the first 
four gates of the city, and serving for the northern parts, as Aid- 
gate for the east; which two gates being both old gates, are, for 
difference sake, called the one Ealdegate, and the other Alders- 
gate.” 

FARRINGDON WARDS. 

These aldermanries, i. e., Farringdon Within and Farringdon 
Without, were formerly but one ; and which was conveyed by 
John le Fenere, for an equivalent, to William Farringdon, citizen 
and goldsmith, in the year 1281, in whose possession, and that of 
his son, it continued about eighty years ; and whose enjoyment 















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


289 


thereof by name (although now divided into two), is like to be 
coeval with time. Farringdon Without is by far the largest Ward, 
and so called from its being without the walls. 

BREAD-STREET WARD. 

Bread Street, which gives denomination to the ward, was so 
called from a Bread market, anciently held there, during which 
time the city bakers were not permitted to sell bread at home, 
but were obliged to dispose thereof in this market. 

LANGBOURNE WARD. 

So denominated from a brook, or bourne, which ran through 
this locality, and which, being of some length, was called Long- 
bourne, now corruptly Lang-bourne. 

DOWGATE WARD. 

This ward derives its name from a dock or water gate, called 
Downegate, “ so called,” says Stow, “ of that down-going or de¬ 
scending thereunto.” 

PORTSOKEN WARD. 

Maitland says, the Ward of Portsoken, about the year 967, was 
given by king Edgar to certain military knights for their gallant 
deportment in the service of their country; and Edgar having 
constituted the said knights a body politick and corporate, their 
lands or district was thereby converted into a jurisdiction, soke, 
or liberty; which, from its vicinity to Aldgate, received the appel¬ 
lation of Portsoke, or the Gate Liberty; which liberty, ward, or 
parish, together with the church thereof, was in the year 1115, 
by the proprietors, the descendants of the said knights, given to 
the priors and canons of the Trinity convent within Aldgate. 


CASTLE-BAYNARD WARD. 

This ward derives its name from Baynard castle (formerly the 
residence of William Baynard, a soldier of fortune); the site of 
which is now partly occupied by a wharf. In the reign of king 
John, it was the residence of Sir Beginald of Bayeux, and was 
famed for the jousts and tournaments that were held there. 

CANDLEW1CK WARD. 

So called from the number of candle-makers that at one period 
resided in it. 


u 






290 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


CORDWAINERS’ WARD. 

This ancient ward receives its name from that part of its locality 
called Bow Lane, being principally inhabited by shoemakers, who 
were originally called Cordwainers. 

BROAD STREET WARD. 

So denominated, because Broad Street originally was the 
broadest street in the city. 

LIME STREET WARD. 

On this spot formerly, were several Lime yards, and it was 
here that the lime was prepared for the rebuilding of the city, 
after the great fire of 1666. This is the only ward of London 
without a church of its own. 

BASSISHAW WARD. 

This is a corruption from Basing-liall ward, a property that 
formerly belonged to the family of the Basings. 

COLEMAN STREET WARD. 

This ward was thus denominated from the street of that name, 
which was called after one Coleman, the first builder and owner. 

BRIDGE AND TOWER WARDS. 

So called from their contiguity to the Bridge and Tower. 

INNS OF COURT. 

Though the antiquity of the Inns of Court be not ascertained, 
yet it may be presumed that they owe their origin to Henry III., 
who having, in the year 1225, confirmed the charters granted by 
John, his father, removed the Courts of Justice from his palace 
into Westminster hall. About this time, the lawyers, or prac¬ 
titioners in those courts, began to form themselves into a society 
(supposed at Thaivie’s Inn, in Holborn), in a collegiate manner; 
hence their place of residence was denominated an Inn, or House 
of Court. But according to others (though with less probability), 
from their being inns, or nurseries for the education of the young 
nobility and gentry. Be that as it will, such places seem in some 
measure to have been appropriated for students of the law, seeing 
Henry III., by his mandate, directed to the Mayor and Sheriffs 
of London, about the year 1244, strictly enjoined them to make 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


291 


proclamation throughout the city, that no person whatsoever 
should presume to set up a school, or schools therein, for teaching 
of law. 

CLEMENT’S INN. 

This Inn of Court derives its name from Clement the Dane, 
whose place of interment is said to be on the site of St. Clement 
Dane’s Church, and which circumstance gave a name to that place 
of worship. The Hall was built in 1715. 

LINCOLN’S INN. 

This Inn of Court derives its name from Henry Lacy, Earl of 
Lincoln, who erected a stately mansion here in 1229, and which 
still retains his name. It is also said, that some time before his 
death (anno 1312), he introduced here the study of the law. 

GRAY’S INN. 

This house, which is situate on the north side of Holborn, and 
is one of the four Inns of Court, is thus denominated from its 
being the residence of the ancient and noble family of Gray of 
Wilton, who, in the reign of Edward III., demised the same to 
divers students of the law. A writer says, it was rebuilt in 1687; 
prior to which it was so incommodious, that, according to the old 
records, the ancients of this house were obliged to lodge double; 
for at a pension held there on the 9th July, in the 21st year of 
Henry VIII., John Hales,then one of the Barons of the Exchequer, 
produced a letter directed to him from Sir Thomas Neville, which 
was to request him to acquaint the Society, that he would accept 
of Mr. Attorney-general to be his bed-fellow in his chamber in 
the Inn, and that entry might be made thereof in the book of their 
rules. 

STAPLE’S INN. 

This Inn is said to have been anciently a Hall for the accom¬ 
modation of Wool-staplers, from whom it is denominated. Be 
that as it will, it appears to have been an Inn of Chancery in the 
year 1415, but how long before is unknown. The new building 
was erected in 1843. 

THAIYIE’S INN. 

This Inn appears to have been of great antiquity, by its having 
belonged to John Thai vie (from whom it is denominated) in the 
reio-n of Edward III., by whose will it appears to have been then 
an Inn for Students at Law; some of whom, about the year 1347, 
had the New Temple demised to them by the Knights’ Hospi¬ 
tallers of St. John of Jerusalem, for a yearly rent of ten pounds; 





292 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


and, removing thither, they and their successors have continued 
there ever since. 

CLIFFORD S INN. 

This Inn is thus denominated from Robert de Clifford, to whom 
it was granted by Edward II. in 1309; and by whose widow it 
was left to Students of the Law in the 18th of Edward III. It 
is an Inn of Chancery, situated on the north side of St. Dunstan’s 
Church, in Fleet Street, and is an appendage to the Inner Tem¬ 
ple. The Society is governed by twelve ancients and a principal, 
who are chiefly attorneys and officers of the Marshal’s Court, 
who, with the rest of the members, are in commons a fortnight 
every term, otherwise to pay four shillings per week. 


FURNIVAL’S INN. 

This Inn owes its name to Sir William Furnival, who, in the 
year 1388, was proprietor of two messuages and thirteen shops, 
where now this Inn is situate, on the north side of Holborn, 
within the bars of the city, but without the liberty thereof; and 
is an Inn of Chancery, and appendage to Lincoln’s Inn. This 
Society is governed by a principal and twelve ancients, who, with 
the other members, are to be in commons a fortnight every 
term, or pay five shillings a week if absent. 


ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, &c. 

Our readers need scarcely be informed, that the old cathedral 
of St. Paul’s was burnt down in the great fire of London in 1666. 
During the time of the Commonwealth, the body of the church 
was converted into saw-pits and stables for soldiery, and to which 
Dryden alludes in the following lines:— 


“ The daring flames peep'd in, and saw from far 
The awful beauties of the sacred quire; 

But since it was profaned by civil war, 

Heav’n thought it lit to have it purged by fire.” 

The first stone of the present magnificent edifice was laid on the 
21st of June, 1675, by Sir Christopher Wren, who lived to see his 
son, then but a few months old, thirty-five years afterwards, de¬ 
posit the highest stone of the lantern on the cupola. It is further 
remarkable, that the architect, the builder, and the dean, who 
saw its commencement, all lived to see it completed.* During 
the early progress of the work, an incident occurred which, even 
in a less superstitious age, might have been considered a favour¬ 
able omen, without any charge of extraordinary credulity. Sir 
Christopher was marking out the dimensions of the great cupola, 

* Sir Christopher Wren, Mr. Strong, and Dr. Henry Compton. 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


293 


when he ordered one of the workmen to bring him a flat stone, 
to use as a station. A piece was brought: it was the fragment 
of a tombstone, on which but one word of the inscription was 
left—that word was resurgam. Some authors suppose this cir¬ 
cumstance to have been the origin of the emblem sculptured over 
the South Portico, by Cibber, namely, a phoenix rising out of its 
fiery nest, with this word as an inscription. 

I 

WHISPERING gallery. 

You ascend by a spacious circular staircase to a gallery, which 
encircles the lower part of the interior of the dome, and is called 
the Whispering Gallery, from the circumstance, that the lowest 
whisper breathed against the wall in any part of this vast circle, 
may be accurately distinguished by an attentive ear on the oppo¬ 
site side. 

COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. KATHERINE’S. 

The church that was thus denominated, but which is now 
pulled down, had the following origin. “ The collegiate body to 
whom the church and precinct pertain, and who have not always 
been so insensible to the nobler principles they now abandon, 
owe their origin to Maud, queen of king Stephen—their present 
constitution to Eleanor, wife of Henry III., and their exemption 
from the general dissolution in the time of Henry VIII., to the 
attractions, it is said, of Anne Bolevn. The queen-consorts have 
from the first been patronesses, and on a vacancy of the crown 
matrimonial, the kings of England.”* 

ST. MARY WOOLNOTH. 

The church of St. Mary Woolnoth, at the west end of Lombard 
Street, was built by Richard Hawksmoor, the eccentric pupil of 
Sir Christopher Wren, in the year 1716. It derived its name 
from being at that time contiguous to the wool market. 

o o 

SAINT NICOLAS COLE ABBEY. 

This church, which is a rectory, situate on the south side of Old 
Fish Street, in the ward of Queenhithe, is thus denominated from 
its dedication to the above-named saint, and the additional 
epithet of Cole Abbey, by some from Golden Abbey, Cold Abbey, 
or Cold-bey, from its cold or bleak situation. It was destroyed 
in the great fire, and rebuilt by Wren. It was the first church 
built and finished after the fire. 


SAINT MARY LE BOW. 

A church in Cheapside, in Cordwainers’ ward, and commonly 
called “Bow Church,”—so called from being built on arches, 

* A new college and church have since been built in the Regent's Park. 




294 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


which were called Bows. This was the first church built of 
stone. The old church was destroyed in the great fire, and the 
present church, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s great master¬ 
pieces, was erected immediately after. 

ALL HALLOWS BARKING. 

The patronage of this church was in the abbess and nuns of 
Barking, in Essex, till 1546, when Henry VIII. exchanged the 
same with Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, in whose successors 
it still continues. 

ALL HALLOWS STAINING. 

This church is of Saxon origin. Staining is a corruption of 
Stane, which our antiquaries are justly of opinion was conferred 
on it, on account of its being built with stones, to distinguish it 
from other churches of the same name in this city that were 
built with wood. The old church escaped the fire but.fell down, 
all but the tower, in 1671. The tower still stands, and will 
repay examination. 

SAINT ANDREW HUBBARD. 

The first mention of this church is some time before the year 
1389, when Walter Palmer was rector thereof. It received the 
epithet of Hubbard from one of its rebuilders or repairers. It 
was destroyed in the great fire, and not rebuilt. Weigh-house 
yard occupies the site. 

SAINT ANDREW WARDROBE. 

This church was originally denominated St. Andrew Juxta 
Baynard’s castle,* from its vicinity to that palace; but the mag¬ 
nificent structure afterwards erected, called the Wardrobe, sup¬ 
plied the place of Baynard’s castle; and the church has ever 
since been called St. Andrew Wardrobe. The old church was 
destroyed in the great fire, and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren 
in 1692. 


SAINT PETER AD VINCULA. 

This church, or chapel, which is situate in the Tower of London, 
is thus denominated from its being dedicated to St. Peter in bonds, 
or chains; and which ad vincula signifies. In this church, or 
chapel, are interred the bodies of two queens, viz., Anna Bullen 
and Catherine Howard, consorts of Henry VIII., who were be¬ 
headed in the Tower; likewise are buried here divers other per¬ 
sons of quality. 

SAINT PETER LE POOR. 

This church, situate on the West side of Broad Street, derives 
its name from St. Peter, and the additional epithet of Le Poor, 

* See Baynard’s Castle. 














THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


295 


from the mean condition of the parish in ancient times; if so, they 
may now justly change it to that of Rich, because of the great 
number of merchants and other persons of distinction inhabit¬ 
ing there. 

SAINT SEPULCHRE. 

This church receives its name from being dedicated to Christ’s 
sepulchre, at Jerusalem. The body of the church was injured in 
the great fire of 1666, that stopped at Pie Corner, a very few 
yards north of the church. The bell of this church always tolls 
on the morning of executing criminals at Newgate. 

SAINT ALPIIAGE. 

This church, says Maitland, which stands at the north-west 
corner of Aldermanbury, owes its name to its dedication to St. 
Alphage, or Elphage, a noble English Saxon, and archbishop of 
Canterbury, who was murdered by the Pagan Danes at Green¬ 
wich, anno 1013. 

SAINT NICOLAS OLAVES 

This church, which stands on the west side of Bread Street hill, 
derives its name from St. Nicolas and Olave, or Olaus, a king of 
Norway, who rebuilt it. 

SAINT MARY MATFELLON. 

This term, applied to the church in Whitechapel, is derived 
from the Hebrew or Syriac word, Matfel , which signifies a woman 
that has lately brought forth a sou, therefore dedicated to Mary, 
delivered of a son. The register records the burial in the church¬ 
yard, June 21, 1649, of Richard Brandon, a ragman in Rosemary 
Lane, and against the entry is the following memorandum in a 
contemporary hand:—“ This R. Brandon is supposed to have cut 
off the head of Charles I.” 

SAINT PANCRAS. 

This church and parish derive their names from St. Pancras, 
a young Phrygian nobleman, who, for his strict adherence to the 
Christian faith, suffered martyrdom at Rome under the emperor 
Dioclesian. The church was in Soper Lane, destroyed in the 
great fire, and not rebuilt. The name is preserved in Pancras 
Lane, Queen Street, Cheapside, and in that of an extensive parish 
in the suburbs of London; and formerly called St. Pancras-in-the- 
Fields. The old church belonging to the latter parish was 
anciently called Kentish Church, and is supposed to have been 
the burying-place belonging to the first cathedral of St. Paul. 
Norden, wdio wrote in the reign of Elizabeth, in his Speculum 
Britannice , says, “ The church of St. Pancras standeth all alone, 





29 G 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


as utterly forsaken, old and weather-beaten, w T hich, for the 
antiquity thereof, is thought not to yield to Paule’s of London. 
—(See Notes and Queries , vol. ii. p. 496.) The new church of St. 
Pancras, near Euston Square, built by the Messrs. In wood, was 
consecrated April 7, 1822, and cost ,£76,679 : 7 : 8. 

ST. BENEDICT, VULGARLY CALLED BENNET FINK. 

This church is thus denominated from its dedication to St. 
Benedict, an Italian saint, and founder of the order of Benedic¬ 
tine Monks; and the additional epithet of Fink, it received from 
its rebuilder, Robert Fink. This church was taken down in 1843, 
to make way for the New Royal Exchange. 

ST. BENNET’S GRASS CHURCH. 

This church, which is a rectory, stands at the south-west corner 
of Fenchurch Street, and near to the Old Grass* Market, from 
whence it derives its additional name. 

ST. BENNET SHEREHOG. 

This church originally went by the name of St. Osyth, from its 
being dedicated to a queen and martyr of that name. However, 
she appears to have been but a very impotent protectrix, in 
suffering herself to be divested of the tutelage of this church by 
Benedict Shorne, a fishmonger; a rebuilder, a repairer, or bene¬ 
factor to the same; and Shorne, his surname, deviating into Slirog, 
was at last converted into Sherehog; and Benedict, as already 
mentioned, turned into Bennet. This church was destroyed in 
the great fire, and not rebuilt. 


ST. MARTIN ORGAR. 

This church, in Candlewick ward, derives its appellation from 
one Odgarus, who was a benefactor to it. It was also destroyed, 
but not rebuilt. 


ST. MARY OVERIE. 

This church in Southwark, by some called St. Saviour’s, and 
by others St. Mary Overier, derives the latter name, which is a 
corruption from Over River, from the following circumstance:—• 
“ A ferry was formerly kept where the bridge now stands. At 
length the ferryman and his wife died, and left the same ferry to 
their only daughter, a maiden named Mary, which, with the goods 
left by her parents, as also with the profits arising from the said 
ferry, she built a house of sisters, and afterwards, at her decease, 

* See Gracecliurch Street. 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


297 


bequeathed the whole of her property to the said sisters, and 
towards building and endowing a church, which, in gratitude to 
their benefactress, they called St. Mary Over River, but which 
ultimately was corrupted or abbreviated to St. Mary Overie.” 

ST. DIONIS BACK-CHURCH. 

This church owes its name to St. Dionis, Dionysius, or Dennis, 
who, upon St. Paul’s preaching at Athens, was converted, and 
became the first bishop of that city, and afterwards patron of the 
French nation. The epithet Back-church, was conferred upon 
this church from its situation behind a row of houses, to dis¬ 
tinguish it from the church of St. Gabriel, which stood in the 
middle of Fencliurch Street; therefore these churches were 
anciently known by no other appellation than those of Fore and 
Back Church. It was destroyed by the great fire, and rebuilt 
by Sir Christopher Wren. 

ST. KATHERINE CREE. 

This church, which is situate on the north side of Leadenhall 
street, owes its name to its dedication to St. Katherine, the 
Egyptian virgin; and the epithet of Christ (corruptly Cree), from 
its vicinity to the conventual church of the Holy Trinity, 
originally denominated Christ Church.* 

ST. MARGARET PATTENS. 

This church, situate at the corner of Little Tower Street, owes 
its name to St. Margaret, and the circumstance that this parish 
anciently was principally inhabited by Patten-makers. 

ST. MARTIN’S OUTWICH. 

This church, which is situate in Threadneedle Street, derives 
its name from St. Martin: “ On the south part of Threeneedle 
street, beginning at the East by the well with two Buckets, now 
turned to a pump, is the Parish Church of Saint Martin, called 
Oteswich, from Martin de Oteswicli, Nicholas de Oteswicli, William 
Oteswich, and John Oteswich, founders thereof.”— Stow, p. 68. 
The Old Church escaped the great fire of 1666, but was seriously 
injured in the Bishopsgate Street fire of Nov. 7, 1765. It was 
temporarily patched up, but was taken down in 1796, and rebuilt 
as we now see it by Sir S. P. Cockerell. 

ST. MARY, ALDERMARY. 

This church, which is situate in Bow Lane, owes its name to 
its dedication to the Virgin Mary, and the additional epithet of 

* The old Church was taken clown in 1628; and the present one was 
consecrated by Dr. Laud (then Bishop of London), Jan. 16, 1630-1. 





298 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

Aldermary, or Eldermary, from its being the oldest church in 
the city dedicated to the Virgin. Stow says, “ A very fair new 
church was laid there by Henry Keble, Grocer, Mayor, who 
deceased 1518, and was there buried.” This was destroyed in 
the great fire, and rebuilt by Wren in 1G81. 

ST. MARY BOTHAW. 

This church, situate in Turn wheel Lane, receives the former 
part of its name from being dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and 
the latter to its vicinity to a Boat Haw, or a Boatbuilder’s yard. 

ST. MARY-AT-HILL. 

This church, which is situate in the Ward of Billingsgate, 
owes its name, like the above mentioned, to the Virgin, and its 
situation upon a pleasant eminence. 

ST. MARY COLECHURCH. 

This church, says Maitland, derives its name from Peter Cole- 
church, w r ho first began the building of London Bridge* with 
stone; he was buried in a chapel on the bridge, from whence his 
body was removed, on the taking down of the houses, to the 
church which now bears his name. It stood at the south-west 
corner of the Old Jewry, in the Poultry. 


ST. MARY SOMERSET. 

This church, which is opposite Broken Wharf, in Thames 
Street, owes its former name to Mary the Virgin; and the 
additional epithet of Somerset, to its vicinity to Summer’s Het, 
or Hithe, a small port or haven, resembling that of Queenliithe. 

ST. MICHAEL BASSISIIAW.' 

This church, situate on the west side of Basinghall street, in 
the Ward of Bassishaw, is thus denominated from its dedication 
to St. Michael, the archangel, and the place of its situation, near 
Basing’s Haw, or Hall. 

ST. MARY MOUNT HAUNT. 

This church, on the west side of Old Fisli-street hill, derives 
its name from its dedication to the Virgin, and its having been 
first built as a chapel to a House inhabited by the family of 
Mountliaunts, in the county of Norfolk. 

* See London Bridge. 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


290 


ST. MICHAEL’S QUERNE. 

This churcli derives its name from St. Michael, and being near 
the Corn Market—Querne being a corruption of Corn. 

ST. ANDREW UNDERSHAFT. 

This church, situate at the corner of St. Mary Axe, and so well 
known to antiquaries as containing within its walls Stow’s 
monument, takes the name of Undershaft from a May-Pole, or 
Shaft, which on May-Day was put up adjacent to it. Chaucer, 
writing of a vain boaster, hath these words, meaning of the said 
shaft:— 

“ Right well aloft, and high you beare your head, 
******** 

As you would beare the great shaft of Cornhill.” 

It may be observed, that Cornhill originally extended thus far. 

ADDLE STREET. 

In the vicinity of this street, King Athelstan had a palace, and 
it received its appellation of Addle street from its vicinity to the 
said palace—Addle signifying Noble. 

ALDERSGATE STREET. 

The name of this street is by some derived from Aldrick, a 
Saxon, by others from Seniors or Old Men who were the builders 
of the gate .—See Gates. 

ALDERMANBURY. 

This street or locality is thus denominated from the Court 
Hall or Bury being here, where the aldermen met previous to 
the erection of Guildhall. Stow states, that the original site of 
Guildhall he remembered as a carpenter’s yard. Abutting on 
the west end of the present hall is a square court, which is 
probably the site of the old Guildhall. 

ABCHURCII LANE. 

This Lane derives its name from the church therein standing 
on an eminence: i. e., ab or up Church, dedicated to Saint Mary. 

ADELPIII. 

This is the Greek word for Brothers, and was given to the 
locality thus denominated, because it was built by the Messrs. 
Adam, the architects—Robert, James, and Jolm. 




300 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


AMEN CORNER. 

So called as terminating Pater-Noster—applied to “ tlie Row,” 
or emporium of the Publishers and Booksellers.—See Pater¬ 
noster Row. 

BLACKMAN STREET, BOROUGH. • 

The name of the street, and the sign of the public-house of the 
same, both derive their appellation from a person of the name of 
Blackman, who had considerable property in the neighbourhood, 
and who made considerable improvements in it. 

BARTLETT’S BUILDINGS. 

Edward VI. made a grant, in 1548, of some houses, stables, 
&c., that stood at that time on this site, to one Bartlett, and 
which gave the present buildings thereon erected the appellation 
of Bartlett’s Buildings. 

BARBICAN. 

Barbican, or Watch Tower, belonging to any fortified place.— 
One of the Barbicans of old London stood upon the site of the 
present street thus denominated. 

BOND STREET. 

This once fashionable lounge derives its name from the original 
proprietor—Sir Thomas Bond of Peckham, in the county of 
Surrey, Baronet. 

BUCKLERSBURY. 

Bucldersbury derives its origin from one Buckle having a 
large manor-house of stone in this place. It was originally called 
Buckle’s Bury. Sir Thomas More lived in this street, and here 
his daughter (Margaret Roper) was born. 

BOW LANE. 

Thus called from its contiguity to the church of St. Mary le 
Bow, which is built on Arches, formerly called Bows. 

BROAD WALL. 

Broad Wall and Narrow Wall, in the vicinity of Pedlar’s 
Acre (now, Belvedere Road, Lambeth), derive their names from 
the circumstance, that before the regular embankment of the 
Thames took place, two walls stood here, to prevent, as far as 
possible, the river from floating the marsh of Lambeth and the 
surrounding neighbourhood. 









I 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 301 

BLOOMSBURY. 

Bloomsbury, which is situate in the county of Middlesex, and 
hundred of Ossulston, was anciently a village denominated 
Loomsburv, wherein the king’s stables were till anno 1534, when 
the same were destroyed by fire, together with a number of 
horses, and great quantities of hay and corn. This catastrophe 
occasioned the Royal Mews, at Charing Cross, to be converted 
into stables for the reception of the king’s horses. 

BLACKFRIARS. 

So denominated, because there formerly stood on the north 
side of the bridge a convent of Black friars, founded by Hubert 
de Burgh, Earl of Kent a.d. 1221, and on the west side a convent 
of White friars, founded by Sir Richard Gray in 1241, which also 
gave a name to an adjacent locality. Richard is made to exclaim 
in the play, when he stops the funeral of Henry—• 

“ No, to Whitefriars, and there await my coming.” 

BATTLE STAIRS. 

Battle Stairs, Tooley street, derive their name from the Abbot 
of Battle, in Sussex, who had a house here, and whose grounds 
and garden came down to the Thames’ side. 

BRIDEWELL, CLERKENWELL, &c. 

These, with others, were the Holy Wells of London, but which 
have declined in reputation. The fame of St. Bride’s well gave 
the name of Bridewell to an adjoining hospital and prison, and 
at last attached the name to almost every house of correction 
throughout the kingdom. Clerkenwell takes its name from the 
company of Parish Clerks, who formerly had their meetings 
here. Fitzstephen says, “ In the suburbs of London are excellent 
springs, the water of which is clear, sweet, and salubrious; 
amongst which Holywell, Clerkenwell, and St. Clement’s wells, 
are of most note.” 


BEYIS MARKS. 

Formerly the Abbot of Bury had his city residence here, from 
whence it received the appellation of Bury’s Marks; and the 
place of its situation, by corruption, is now denominated Bevis 
Marks. 

BROOK MARKET. 

This market, as well as Brook street, Holborn, derive their 
name from Lord Brook’s mansion being formerly here. 



302 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BARGE YARD, BUCIvLERSBURY. 

According to tradition, Boats and Barges came up Walbrook 
from the Thames to that place, where they delivered their car¬ 
goes or freights. 

BIRDCAGE WALK. 

A name given to the south side of St. James’s Park, between 
Buckingham Gate and Storey’s Gate, from the aviary established 
there in the reign of James I., and the decoy made there in the 
reign of Charles II. 

BUCKINGHAM HOUSE. 

This mansion in St. James’s Park, for so many years the resi¬ 
dence of our royal family, was erected by John Sheffield, Duke 
of Buckingham, in 1703, in the reign of Queen Anne. It is related 
that the architect and builder, Captain Wynde, having expended 
large sums of money upon it, his employer, the duke, was back¬ 
ward in paying the same, upon which he resorted to the following 
stratagem. The architect one day prevailed upon his Grace to 
mount the top of the building, for the alleged purpose of seeing 
the surrounding prospect. The moment the duke sat his foot on 
the roof, the man of science and bricks shut down the trapdoor, 
locked it, and threw the key to the ground below. The duke, 
astonished at the action, exclaimed, e ' ITow am I to get down?” 
The builder, assuming a melancholy countenance, replied—“ My 
Lord Duke, I am a distressed man, I have ruined myself by 
making advances for this building, and unless you immediately 
relieve me, it is my intention to leap down and destroy myself!” 
“ What is to become of me, you having thrown the key away ? ” 
demanded the duke. “ You must leap down also,” rejoined the 
builder, “ unless you consent to satisfy my wants.” Upon which, 
it is said, the duke instantly complied, by giving him an order 
upon his banker for the amount lie named. The builder then 
gave a preconcerted signal to one of his men, who came up with 
the key, unlocked the trapdoor, and set the duke at liberty. It 
is generally supposed that the duke complied with the request 
of the builder, not from any sense of fear, but because he admired 
the ingenious mode in which he had been called upon to pay his 
debts. Buckingham House was taken down by George IV. in 
1825, and the present Palace erected in its stead. 

BERMONDSEY STREET. 

The name of this manor, or district, being a Saxon compound, 
and the last syllable thereof seeming to imply an island, it is sup¬ 
posed anciently to have been such a place, belonging to one Ber- 
mond, and which the situation gives room to conjecture. Be that 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


303 


as it will, the village of Bermundeseye, in the Conqueror’s survey, 
appears to have been a royal manor, wherein were twenty-five 
villeins, or servile husbandmen, and twenty-three Bordonanni , 
or Cottagers. 

CORNHILL. 

This is the highest* part of London, and was denominated thus 
in consequence of that circumstance, and the great number of 
Corn-chandlers who resided here in former times. 

CIIEAPSIDE. 

Cheapside received its name from Chepe, a Market,—this 
being originally the great street for splendid shops. In the year 
1246 it was an open field, called Crown-field, from an inn of that 
sign at the east end. 

CONDUIT STREET. 

Built in 1718, and is so called from a Conduit of water in cer¬ 
tain fields between Piccadilly and Paddington. 

COVENTRY STREET. 

This appellation is derived from Coventry House, the residence 
of Henry Coventry, third son of Lord Keeper Coventry, and 
himself Secretary of State to Charles II. 

CRUTCHED-FRIARS. 

Crutched-Friars is derived from the house of Crutched or 
Crossed Friars, a fraternity who wore a large red cross on their 
garments—hence, also, the Red Cross Knights. “The Friars 
Hall was made a glass house, wherein glass was made of divers 
sorts to drink in, which house, in the year 1575, on the 4tli of 
September, burst out into a terrible fire, and was all consumed 
to the stone walls.”— Stow, p. 56. 

CORAM STREET. 

Coram Street, Brunswick Square, is so called after Captain 
Coram, projector of the Founding Hospital. He died March 29, 
1751, aged 84. 

CRANBOURNE-ALLEY. 

This property belongs to the Marquis of Salisbury, and derives 
its cognomen from the Marquis’s second title, which is borne by 

* In Panier Alley, leading from Newgate Street to Paternoster Kow, a 
stone announces that spot to be the highest part of London. 



304 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


his eldest son—Viscount Cranbourne. The late Lord Erskine 
being on a visit to the late Marquis at Hatfield House, and the 
latter being anxious for his lordship’s opinion on his new picture 
gallery, took the earliest opportunity of showing it to him, when 
liis lordship made the following happy impromptu :— 

“Your room, though long and narrow, 

And as straight as an arrow, 

Will ne’er with your other rooms tally; 

But give it to your son,—’twill be excellent fun 
To hear it call'd Cranbourne Alley.” 

In 1843, the whole south side of Cranbourne Alley was taken 
down, and the street widened, making a carriage way from 
Coventry Street to Long Acre. The new street was opened in 
March, 1844. 

COLEMAN STREET. 


Coleman street derives its name from Coleman, the first builder 
and owner thereof. The Star in Coleman Street was a tavern 
where Oliver Cromwell and several of his party occasionally met. 

CLARE MARKET. 

From the Clare family, who had a house contiguous to Clement’s 
Inn. 


CARNABY MARKET. 


On this site formerly stood the mansion of Sir Eaynold Car¬ 
naby, who figured in the reign of Henry VIII., and who enjoyed 
a great portion of that monarch’s favour. His descendants con¬ 
tinued to reside there till the reign of James I., when the present 
market was built, and which was named after the family of the 
Carnabys. 

CARLTON HOUSE. 

Carlton House, once the celebrated town residence of George 
IV., derives its name from its original possessor, Henry Boyle, 
Baron Carlton, who built it on a piece of ground leased to him by 
Queen Anne in 1709. Lord Carlton died without issue in 1725, 
and his house and grounds descended to his nephew, Richard 
Boyle, Lord Burlington; he bestowed it in 1732 upon his mother, 
the Countess-dowager of Burlington, who in the same year 
transferred it to Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George 
the Third. Carlton House was taken down in 1826, and the 
columns of the Portico transferred to the National Gallery. 


CRIPPLEGATE. 

St. Giles is the patron of beggars. Going to church in his 
youth, he gave his coat to a sick beggar who asked alms of him 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


305 


*—tlie mendicant was clothed, and the garment miraculously 
cured a disorder with which he was afflicted. He was also the 
patron of Cripples. It is related of him by that pious chronicler 
of the saints, Ribadeneira, that one day when the French king 
was a hunting near a thicket where St. Giles was concealed, 
he was wounded by an arrow from a huntsman’s bow while in 
the act of praying; whereupon, being found unmoved from his 
position, the king fell at his feet, craved his pardon, and gave 
orders for the cure of his wound; but this the Saint would not 
permit, preferring to remain a Cripple, and thereby increase his 
merits. The church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is dedicated to him; 
hence the name of the locality. 

COAL-HARBOUR LANE. 

Here stood a spacious and stately edifice, denominated Cold 
Herberg, or Harbrough, the latter being a corruption of the 
former, which signifies an Inn or Mansion-house; the epithet of 
Cold was probably added on account of its bleak situation, 
so near the river Thames. However, the site thereof, and 
buildings thereon, are at present known by the name of Coal- 
harbour lane, in Upper Thames Street. 

CHARING CROSS. 

Here formerly stood the village of Charing, from whence the 
present name is derived. The Cross was an ancient Gothic 
structure, placed there in 1291 to Eleanor, queen of Edward I., 
being the last stage at which the queen’s body stopped, previous 
to its interment in Westminster Abbey. “ But neither its 
ornamental situation, the beauty of its structure, nor the amiable 
design of its erection,” says an intelligent writer, “ could preserve 
it from the merciless zeal of the times.” It was demolished by 
the House of Commons, during the Commonwealth, as a relic of 
Popish superstition. 

CHARLES THE FIRST’S STATUE. 

This noble equestrian statue at Charing Cross is the work of 
Hubert le Soeur, a Frenchman, who came to England about the 
year 1674. “The commanding grace of the figure, and the 
exquisite form of the horse, are striking to the most unpractised 
eye,” says Horace Walpole. This piece was cast in 1633, in a 
spot of ground near to Covent Garden, and not being erected 
before the commencement of the civil war, it was sold by the 
Parliament to John Rivet, a brazier, living at the Dial, near 
Holborn Conduit, with strict orders to break it to pieces. 
This worthy, we may presume, was a royalist. At any rate, he 
was a sagacious wight, for he produced a quantity of fragments 
of old brass, and concealed the statue and horse under ground 

x 




306 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


until the Bestoration. “ He cast a number of knives and forks,” 
says M. de Archenholz, “ in brass, which he sold as manufactured 
from the statue. These were purchased with avidity by the 
royalists, out of affection to their unfortunate sovereign; and 
sought with equal eagerness by the rebels, as a trophy of the 
downfall of a despot. ” 

COVENT GARDEN. 

On the site of the western Piazza of Covent Garden, or as it is 
vulgarly called Common Garden, formerly stood a Convent of 
Sisters, which was with other monasteries seized and confiscated 
by order of our Eighth Harry. Where the market is held now, 
formerly was the Convent Garden, and which circumstance gave 
it its present name. “ I conclude with being Edward Honey¬ 
comb, in the time of Henry the Eighth, helping to undo the 
convent that stood there. I strike his Majesty’s warrant on the 
door, and change every thing like a harlequin. The convent 
becomes a playhouse, monks and nuns turn actors and actresses. 
The garden, formal and quiet, where a salad was cut for a lady 
abbess, and flowers were gathered to adorn images, becomes a 
market, noisy and full of life, distributing thousands of fruits and 
flowers to a social metropolis. Who is this coming this way, 
looking so earnest and full of frown ? Is it a little Dominican 
friar, longing to denounce us all to the Inquisition? No; it is 
Mr. Kean, in his great-coat, who delights us all, and does us good, 
in a profane playhouse. Miss Stephens, and Miss Tree, too, 
instead of 


‘ Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon,’ 

raise their voices in delightful duets, and have good warm benefits.” 
— Landor's Conversations. 


CANNON STREET. 

\ 

Cannon Street was originally Candlewick Street, deriving its 
name from its formerly being principally occupied by the wax 
and tallow trades, which were of great importance till 1548, 
when, by order of Henry VIII., the burning of candles in religious 
services were prohibited. 

CROSBY SQUARE. 

The house in Crosby Square called Crosby House, built by 
one Sir John Crosby, was the city residence of Bichard III., 
and is alluded to in the play. After passing through various 
hands, it was in 1672 converted into a Presbyterian Meeting¬ 
house, and in 1677 the present houses in Crosby Square were 
erected on a. portion of the offices attached to the mansion. 
The lease expiring 1831, a subscription was raised to restore the 
hall to its original state. The first stone of the new works 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


307 


was laid June 27, 1836, and the hall re-opened July 27, 1842, 
for a Literary and Scientific Institution. 

CURTAIN ROAD. 

The road which runs parallel with Shoreditch, from Worship 
Street to Old-street Road, is thus denominated from one of the 
earliest theatres being here. The Curtain theatre was erected 
on that part of the Haliwell priory called the curtain close, from 
which its name was derived, and not, as is generally supposed, 
from a striped curtain hung round the playhouse. Curtis 
monaster ii , and Curtis cenobii , signify the inner court or 
cloisters of a monastery.—See ante , p. 87. 

DEVONSHIRE SQUARE. 

Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate, derives its name from the 
mansion formerly there, the residence of the Devonshire family. 

DUKE’S PLACE. 

Duke’s Place, in the city, the great resort of the Jews, took 
its name from Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who had his 
residence here, and was beheaded in 1572. 

DRURY LANE. 

Near this place stood Drury-house, the habitation of the great 
family of the Drurys—built by Sir William Drury, K. G., from 
which it derived its appellation. It is remarkable that this lane, 
of later times so notorious for intrigue, should receive its title 
from a family name, which, in the language of Chaucer, had an 
amorous signification— 

" Of bataille and of chevalrie, 

Of lady’s love and druerie, 

Anon I woll you tell.” 

EAST-CHEAP. 

East-Cheap, from Chepe, a Market, and East, the aspect it 
bears to Cheapside. This street was famous in old times for its 
convivial doings. “The cookes cried—hot ribbes of beef roasted, 
pies well baked, and other victuals. There was clattering of 
pewter pots, harpe, pipe, and sawtrie,” evident symptoms of the 
jollity of this quarter. Here, too, was the celebrated “ Boar’s 
Head,” the resort of Prince Hal and his pot companion, Falstaff. 

EXETER CHANGE. 

This place received its name from being built on the site of 
the old mansion-house of the Earls of Exeter. In the ancient 


308 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


plans of London, the original house covered a large space, and 
had its quadrangles, towers, and turrets, in the style of Burleigh- 
house, the country residence of the Marquis of Exeter. It was 
erected for the purposes of trade, and consisted of three floors. 
The upper ones, which are spacious, have been the scenes of 
many interesting exhibitions. The last tenant of the upper 
rooms was Mr. Cross, with his menagerie; and there, in March 
1826, Chunee, the famous elephant, was shot. Exeter Change 
was taken down in 1829. The present Exeter Change is a mo¬ 
dern structure, between Bridges Street in the Strand, and Upper 
Wellington Street. 

EXETER HALL, STRAND. 

This has been erected on the site of the old Exeter Change, and 
is distinguished for its musical assemblies, as well as for its reli¬ 
gious meetings, in May. The hall was completed in 1831, the 
architect J. P. Deering; and its magnificent organ was built by 
Mr. Walker. The great hall is 90 feet broad, 138 long, and 48 
wide, and will accommodate about 4000 persons. 

FETTER LANE. 

This lane was formerly called Fewter Lane, from the name 
of Fewters (idle people), it having been a way leading to gardens 
and waste grounds, extending from this lane to Shoe Lane. 

FINSBURY SQUARE. 

Finsbury is supposed to be a corruption from Fens-bury, from 
that locality being originally a large Fen. Fitzstephen, however, 
says it took its name from Sir William Finnes, a knight of Rhodes 
(a.d. 1044), who left the fields of Finsbury to his two daughters, 
who subsequently became nuns in the monastery of Bedlam, 
afterwards an hospital. The chief magistrate of the metro¬ 
polis is Mayor of London, and Lord of the Manor of Finsbury. 

FLUDYER STREET. 

Fludyer Street, near to Downing Street, derives its name from 
Sir Samuel Fludyer, Lord Mayor of London, about the year 
1740; he having built it in 1766. 

FORSTER LANE. 

This lane derives its name from Sir Stephen Forster, knight, 
some time Lord Mayor of London, and the founder of the pri¬ 
vileges of Ludgate prison, himself having been a prisoner there, 
from whence lie was released by a lady whom he afterwards 













THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


309 


married, and on which circumstance was founded the play of 
“ The Widow of Cornhillor, “a Woman never Vext.” 

FORE STREET. 

This street was so denominated, because it was the first street 
built without the walls of Cripplegate. The present street was 
built in 1761. 


FISH-STREET HILL. 

This hill or street is thus denominated from its originally 
being principally occupied by dealers in dried or salt fish. Here 
stands the Monument erected to commemorate the great fire of 
London. 


FLEET STREET. 

This street, Fleet market, and the Fleet prison, all derive 
their name from a small river or ditch, called the Fleet from its 
rapidity, which flowed up from the Thames. It was at length 
arched over, and New Bridge-street and Fleet market formed 
thereon. “Friday, September 30, 1737, the stalls, &c., in Stock’s 
market (now where the Mansion-house stands) being pulled 
down, the Lord Mayor proclaimed Fleet market as a free mar¬ 
ket.” This was removed to the west of its old site in November 
1826, and is now called Farringdon Market; and the site of the 
old one is now Farringdon Street. 

FENCIIURCH STREET. 

This locality was formerly denominated Fenny-a-bout, from 
being a very marshy situation. There were several brooks or 
bournes also, which emptied themselves into the Thames. 

GOODMAN’S FIELDS. 

Mansel, Prescott, Leman, and Ayliffe Streets, with a few 
smaller streets and courts in the vicinity, comprise what is called 
Goodman’s Fields. Stow writes, that he remembers it a farm 
belonging to the Minoresses * of St. Clare, who gave a name to 
the neighbouring street called the Minories. “ At which farrne,” 
says Stow, “ I myself, in my youth, have fetched many a half- 
pennie worth of milke, and never had less than three ale pints 
for a halfpennie in the summer, nor less than one ale quart in 
the wintre, always hot from the kine, as the same was milked 
and strained.” One Trollop, and afterwards Goodman, were the 
farmers there; the latter, having purchased the farm and fields, 
so increased his property, that he had thirty or forty cows for 

* See Minories. 



310 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


milking. Farmer Goodman’s son afterwards letting out the 
ground for grazing horses, and for gardens, the name of Good¬ 
man’s farm was entirely lost in that of Goodman’s Fields, which 
it retains notwithstanding all the changes it has undergone. 

The backs of the houses of the four streets above named, form 
a large square called the Tenter Ground, having formerly been 
used by a dyer; it was afterwards converted into a handsome 
garden, in which state it continued until the idle threat of inva¬ 
sion set the whole country marching and countermarching. 
Harnessed and armed, big with valorous loyalty, the garden of 
the Tenter Ground became the field of Mars, and the spring and 
summer flowers yielded to the flowers of chivalry. 

GREAT WARDROBE STREET. 

This street takes its name from the royal mansion called the 
Great Wardrobe, which formerly stood in Wardrobe-Coat, Great 
Carter Lane. 

GREEN PARK. 

This park receives its appellation simply from its verdure con¬ 
tinuing green throughout the year, numbers of springs being on 
the spot. It was once much larger than it is at the present time, 
George III. having reduced it in 1767, to enlarge the gardens of 
Old Buckingham House. 


GERARD-STREET. 

The name of this street is derived from Gerard House, the resi¬ 
dence of Gerard, the gallant Earl of Macclesfield. It was built 
about 1681. 

GOLDEN SQUARE. 

Pennant says, Golden Square was formerly Gelding Square, 
from the sign of a neighbouring inn; but the inhabitants, indig¬ 
nant at the vulgarity of the name, changed it to the present. Mr. 
Cunningham, however, in his Hand-Book of London , shows it to 
have been called The Golden Square as early as 1688. 

GILTSPUR STREET. 

This way towards Smithfield was anciently called Gilt-Spurre 
street, because of the knights, who, in quality of their honour, 
wore Gilt Spurs, and who rode that way to the tournaments, 
j oustings, and other feats of arms used in Smithfield. 

GRACECHURCII STREET. 

By referring to Stow, or looking into any of the old accounts 
of London, it will be found that this was a Grass Market, and 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


311 


which in course of time was called Gracious Street, and ultimately 
Gracechurch Street. 


GARLIC HILL. 

This locality derives its name from the Garlic market being 
originally in the vicinity. 

HATTON GARDEN. 

This locality derives its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, 
Lord Chancellor in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and Christopher 
Hatton, his godson, created Baron Hatton of Kirby, in the county 
of Northampton. 

HOUNDSDITCH. 

Houndsditch was formerly a filthy ditch, into which was thrown 
dead dogs and all manner of filth—hence its present name. Into 
it was thrown a worthy deserving of no better sepulture, Edric, 
the murderer of his master, Edmund Ironside, after having been 
drawn by his heels from Baynard’s castle, and tormented to 
death by flaming torches. 

HOLBORN. 

Holborn, originally called Old-bourne, from its standing on a 
brook. A bourne signifies a brook, and is a common termination 
of English towns and streets. This street was the first in London 
that was paved; this was in the year 1417, by order of Henry IY. 

HUNGERFORD STAIRS, MARKET, &c. 

Hungerford Stairs, &c., so called from the Earls of Hungerford 
having a palace near to the river Thames. Formerly there was 
a series of palaces in a line with the Strand; commencing with 
the Earl of Northumberland’s, and terminating with that of the 
Earl of Essex in Essex-street. Hungerford Suspension Bridge 
was constructed by Mr. I. K. Brunei, and opened April 18, 1845. 

HOLYWELL STREET. 

Holy Well-street, or, as it is called, Holywell Street, in the 
Strand, derives its name from a well in a baker’s yard, and 
which was denominated Holy Well from the miraculous cures 
that it is said to have wrought. 

HYDE PARK. 

So called from Hyde, Lord Clarendon, whose daughter mar¬ 
ried James, Duke of York, afterwards James II.; from which 
circumstance the said park became crown property. 




312 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


HACKNEY. 


This village was anciently celebrated for the numerous seats of 
the nobility and gentry, which occasioned, says Maitland, a mighty 
resort thither of persons of all conditions from the city of Lon¬ 
don ; whereby so great a number of horses were hired in the city 
on that account, that they were called Hackney or Hack horses, 
and, from the number of them employed to go to this neighbour¬ 
hood, in process of time gave a name to this locality. 


HORSLEYDOWN. 


Many derivations are traced to, or take their name from, the 
merry reign of Charles II. It was one of his amours which gave 
rise, it is said, to the cognomen of Horsleydown. Below Rederiffe 
lived a miller, who had a pretty wife, and whom, when the miller 
was absent, our amorous monarch, disguised as a student at law, 
was wont to wanton with. On one occasion, however, the miller 
came unawares upon them, when his majesty with some little 
difficulty made his escape, and mounting his horse, which w r ith an 
attendant was at a little distance, fled as fast as “ Tam O’Shanter! ” 
He had not proceeded far, however, before his horse fell down, 
when the miller coming up gave his incog, majesty a good drub¬ 
bing, which circumstance, it is added, gave that locality the name 
of Horsleydown. Another writer says—“ The tale of Charles and 
the miller is a very pleasant one,” but adds, “ it is more probable 
the site of this parish was anciently a grazing ground, and there¬ 
fore denominated Horse-down, now corruptly Horsleydown. 


ISLINGTON. 


The name of this village has been fancifully derived from two 
Saxon appellations, viz.— Gisel, an hostage or pledge,and dun or tun, 
a town. In ancient records it is called Isendune, Isendon , Iseldon, 
and Isleton , meaning the Lower Town, or Fort, from Ishel, lower, 
and Dun, town or fortress. The present name was adopted in 
the sixteenth century. 


ISLE OF DOGS. 


Stow says, this place derives its name from the King’s hounds 
formerly being kept here, where w~ere the royal kennels. It was 
originally called Poplar Marsh. 


JEWIN STREET. 


This street derives its name from the first Jewish cemetery 
being here; and the only one, says Maitland, for the sepulture 
of that nation from all parts of England till the year 1777, when, 













THE ETVMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


313 


by an indefatigable application to parliament, it was enacted that 
they should have burial-grounds in any part where they resided. 

KNIGHT-RIDER STREET. 

Ibis street is thus named, in consequence of it being the road 
by which the Knights passed to the tournaments and joustings, 

which were held at Baynard’s castle in the reign of King John. 

\ 

LITTLE BRITAIN. 

Stow, speaking of Little Britain, says: “Where the kings of Scot¬ 
land used to be lodged, between Charing Cross and Whitehall, is 
likewise called Scotland; and where the Earls of Britain were 
lodged, without Aldersgate, the street is called Britain Street.” 

LAMB’S CONDUIT STREET. 

This term is derived from William Lambe, gentleman and 
clothworker, who, in 1577, built a water conduit at Holborn 
Cross. The conduit was taken down in 1746. 

LEADENHALL STREET. 

This street derives its name from Leadenhall, which stood on 
the site of the skin market. In 1445, it was converted into a 
granary for the city, by Simon Eyre, draper, and mayor of 
London. It appears to have obtained its name from its being 
covered with lead, then an unusual roofing. 

LUDGATE STREET. 

“ This street,” says an ingenious writer, “ derives its name 
from Lud, son of Bilenus, king of Britain.” Maitland, however, 
says—“ This gate is denominated Fludgate, from a rivulet below 
it, where Fleetditch now is. I am apt to think, however, it 
should rather be Fleetgate, from the Saxon jiod , vloet , Fleote , 
or Fleet , which imply a small navigable water-course, such as 
the Fleet rivulet has probably been from the original London.” 

LONDON WALL. 

London Wall explains its own etymology. Within these few 
years there was a long tract of the old wall of London standing 
in the locality now so named, of which a few fragments now 
remain at the back of Cripplegate Church, as well as in Warwick 
Court, Fleet Street. 

LONG-ACRE. 

This street was originally a piece of ground called Seven Acres, 
from whence came the present name. 


314 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 




LAWRENCE POULTNEY LANE. 

This lane, which runs from Eastcheap to Thames street, derives 
its name from the adjacent church, which is dedicated to St. Law¬ 
rence, and also to Sir John Pulteney, who founded a college here. 

LOTHBURY. 

The etymology of Lothbury is uncertain; Stow says it is derived 
from berie , meaning a court, and the fact of its having been in¬ 
habited by founders and candlestick-makers, who, whilst turning 
and polishing their goods, make a loathsome noise which is very 
disagreeable to the passers-by, and by them it is disdainfully 
called Lothberie. 

LOMBARD STREET. 

This street is so named from the Lombards, who inhabited that 
part of Italy called Lombardy, being a class of people who first in¬ 
troduced the Banking system into England. This street was prin¬ 
cipally inhabited by goldsmiths, who, down to the reign of James 
tjie Second, were the only bankers in this country. 

LIMEHOUSE. 

This place, which is one of the Tower Hamlets, derives the 
appellation of Limeliouse from Lime-hurst, which, by its Saxon 
termination, implies a grove of Lime-trees, which, according to 
Stow, abounded in this neighbourhood. 

LAMBETH. 

Lambeth is variously written—Lamb-hyde, Lam-hyte, &c., viz. 
a dirty station; from the circumstance of its being overflowed by 
the Thames. 

MONMOUTH STREET. 

This celebrated Wardrobe derives its appellation from James 
Duke of Monmouth, who had a house on the south side of Soho 
Square. 

MINORIES. 

# 

Minories is derived from certain poor ladies of the order of St. 
Clair, or Minoresses, who were invited into England by Blanche* 
Queen of Navarre (wife to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster), who, in 
1293, founded here a convent for their reception. 

MONKWELL STREET. 

On the site of Barbers’ hall, or thereabouts, formerly stood a 
monastery of the Carthusian order, dedicated to St. Giles the 











THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


315 


patron of cripples. Here was a Well which was said to possess 
“ sovereign virtue,” and to which the faithful and afflicted Hocked 
daily. This well being under the special protection of the monks, 
it was in time denominated the Monks’ Well, which circum¬ 
stance ultimately gave a name to the street, now called Mugwell, 
or Monkwell Street, Cripplegate. 

MILK STREET. 

We had formerly our milk, honey, egg, and bread market. The 
three former were one market, and gave a name and locality to 
what is now called Milk Street, Honey-lane Market, &c. Every 
necessary of life, in former times, was obliged to be sold in open 
market; Cheapside was the principal market in the city. Milk 
Street is famed as the birthplace of Sir Thomas More. 

MOORFIELDS. 

So called from a mere, muir, or lake, which formerly stood here, 
and on which, says Fitzstephen, “ the citizens amused themselves 
when it was frozen over, by tying bones to their feet and skaiting 
on the same ; thys,” he adds, “ was manly sporte.” After the great 
fire of London, 1666, the people lived in sheds and tents in Moor- 
fields till such time as other tenements could be erected for them. 

MAZE POND, SOUTHWARK. 

This locality in the borough of Southwark, derives its name 
from the abbot of Battle having a very extensive labyrinth or 
maze in his garden here, and which gave to this particular spot 
its present appellation. 

MARK LANE. 

At the north-east corner of Mark Lane was anciently situate 
the manor-house, says Maitland, of Blanch Appleton, which in 
the reign of Richard II. belonged to Sir Thomas Boos of Hame- 
lake, which manor had a privilege of holding a mart or fair, 
whence the adjacent lane was denominated Mart Lane, but now 
corrupted to Mark Lane. The great corn market of the metro- 
polis is situated in this street. 

* ST. MARY AXE. 

This street was originally called St. Mary’s Street. It took its 
present appellation from possessing one of the three axes which 
beheaded the eleven thousand virgins. In 1565, the parish of 
St. Mary the Virgin was united to St. Andrew Undershaft. 

MARY-LE-BONE. 

The modern name of this locality is a perversion: it was 
originally written Mary-le-bourne, or Mary on the Brook (see 
Tyburn). It may be stated, however, that in the time of Elizabeth 


31G 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


it was called Marybone, and is so designated by lady Mary Mon 
tague (a century later) in the following line: 

“And dukes at Marybone bowl time away.” 


MINT, BOROUGH. 

Opposite to tlie west end of St. George’s Church, in the Borough,, 
anciently stood a magnificent structure, belonging to the duke ot 
Suffolk, which coming to Henry VIII., he converted it into a 
Mint, and which gave the present locality its name. 

MILLBANK 

Simply from a Mill that stood on the Thames bank here. 

THE MEWS, 

As at Charing Cross, is a name derived by Hu Fresne, in his 
Glossary, from the Latin muta, and French La Meue , the disease 
to which hawks are subject, of yearly muting or changing their 
feathers, this being the place where the king’s hawks were kept 
before it was converted into stables. Muta, he says, is also the 
building in which falcons are shut up when they mute, or change 
their feathers. Edward IT. in his 13th year granted to John de 
la Beche, the custody of the king’s houses, “ de rnutis” at Charry- 
ing, near Westminster. Ralph de Manners, the king’s falconer, 
had, in the like manner, granted to him the custody of' the King’s 
Mews at Charinge, the 23rd of Edward III.; as also, Sir Simon de 
Burley, 1st Richard II. Henry VIII.is said to have kept his horses 
there, for which purpose he partly rebuilt the old structure; and the 
same was, by Edward VI. and Mary, afterwards enlarged and 
converted into stabling. From this place, its first use, and subse¬ 
quent application, it has of late years been customary to give to 
any range of buildings erected for stabling the name of Mews. 

The little of the original Mews which remained, and which was 
erected as above, was that lately occupied as a barrack, and 
which has now given way to the fine new opening to St. 
Martin’s church. It was composed of red “Tudor Brick,” with 
stone windows and dressings, supported by buttresses, and crenel¬ 
lated at top. 

NEWINGTON BUTTS. 

So called, from the citizens of London practising archery in 
that locality—the Butts being set up as targets. 

NEWGATE. 

Here stood a gate of the city, originally called Chamberlain’s 
gate. It was used as a prison, so long back as 1218, for persons 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


317 


of rank, before tlie Tower was used for that purpose. In 1422, 
this gate was rebuilt by the executors of the famous Sir Richard 
Whittington, out of the effects he had allotted for works of 
charity ; his statue with the cat, remained in a niche to its final 
demolition on the rebuilding of the present prison. It was de¬ 
stroyed in the fire of 1666, and rebuilt in its late form, whence it 
obtained the name of Newgate, and which gave a name to the 
street so named. It was again burnt during the Gordon riots in 
1780. 

OLD BAILEY. 

Our antiquaries are of opinion, says Maitland, that the Old 
Bailey is a corruption of Baleliill (several such appellations still 
remaining in diverse cities and towns of this kingdom) ;* an emi¬ 
nence whereon was situated the Bale, or Bailiff’s House, wherein 
he held a court for the trying of malefactors. Stow says, the 
Chamberlain of London held a court here as early as the reign 
of Edward III. 

OLD JEWRY. 

In the reign of Henry II., this quarter of the city was occupied 
principally by the Jews, hence it took the name of the Old Jewry. 
The church of St. Olave, Old Jewry, was one of their synagogues, 
until they were forcibly dispossessed of it, a.d. 1291. 

PATERNOSTER ROW. 

Howell says, Paternoster Row had its name from stationers or 
text-writers, who resided here, and wrote and sold all sorts of books, 
namely : A B C, with the Pater Noster, Ave, Creed, Graces, &c. 
There," and in Ave-Maria Lane, dwelt turners of beads, called 
Paternoster makers. It was afterwards inhabited by mercers, 
and now chiefly by booksellers. 

PICKETT STREET. 

The principal houses in this street were built by Alderman 
Pickett, from whom the street derives its name. It was built on 
the site of Butchers’ Row, in 1813. 

PETTY FRANCE. 

So denominated from its being principally (in former times) 
inhabited by people of that nation. It was rebuilt in 1730, and 
called New Broad Street. 

PEDLAR’S ACRE. 

Pedlar’s Acre, which runs parallel with the Thames from 
Westminster bridge towards Broad-wall, derives it> name from 

* There is a Balehill at York, and another at Chester. 







318 THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 

n portion of it being left by a pedlar to the parish of Lambeth, 
now a very valuable property. A painting on glass, representing 
the Pedlar and his Dog, may be seen in Lambeth church. 

POULTRY. 

This street was so denominated, from being the Poultry 
market. In the reign of William and Mary, however, the 
poulterers removed to Leadenhall, and were succeeded by haber¬ 
dashers, glovers, &c. 

PYE CORNER. 

Pye Corner was so called, says Stow, from such a sign, some¬ 
times a fair inne, for receipt of travellers, but now divided into 
tenements. It was at Pye Corner that the fire of London ended: 
the houses that escaped were taken down in 1809, and upon 
their site other dwelling houses have been erected, together with 
an engine-house. There is a figure of a bloated boy stuck up at 
the corner, on which is an inscription, ascribing the fire as a 
punishment on the citizens for their gluttony ! 

PIIILPOT LANE. 

This lane was called after Sir John Philpot, an alderman of 
London, who resided here, and who, in the reign of Richard II., 
fitted out a fleet at his own charge, and took abundance of prizes. 
On being called to account by the duke of Lancaster, for annoyino- 
the nation’s enemies without authority, he was honourably ac¬ 
quitted, and the administration censured for not protecting the 
trade of the kingdom. 

PORTPOOL LANE. 

* X 

This lane was so denominated, from being the manor of Port- 
pool (a prebend of St. Paul’s cathedral), and received its name 
originally from a neighbouring pool. 

PALL MALL. 

Pall Mall, and the Mall in St. James’s Park, take their names 
from being used as a walk, or place for the exercise of a game 
called Paille-Maille , introduced into England in the reign of 
Charles I., but long since disused. 

PICCADILLY. 

The derivation of the name is uncertain; Gerrard in his Herbal , 
1596, says, “ 1 hat the small wild buglosse grows upon the drie 
ditche banks about Pickadilla.” From which, no doubt the pre¬ 
sent street takes its name. 5 t 






TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


319 


POPLAR. 

The hamlet of Poplar derives its name from the great number 
of Poplar-trees which anciently grew there. 

* 

RATIIBONE PLACE. 

Pathbone Place, Oxford Street, was so called after a carpenter 
and builder of that name. It was built in 1718. 

RED AND WHITE CROSS STREETS. 

At the upper end of Red Cross Street, says Maitland, and north¬ 
east corner of Beach Lane, stood a Eed and White Cross, which 
gave names to the streets so called. 


REGENT’S PARK. 

This delightful place, which is bounded on the one hand by 
Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill, and on the other by Portland 
Place and the Crescent, was denominated the Regent’s Park, out 
of compliment to George IV., when Prince Regent of these 
realms. 

SLOANE STREET. 

Sloane street, so called after Sir Hans Sloane, the celebrated 
projector, architect, naturalist, and book virtuosi; born 1660, 
died January 11, 1753. 


SKINNER STREET. 

The principal houses in this street were built by Alderman 
Skinner, who resided here, and whose name the street bears. 
Lord Mayor in 1795. 

SHOREDITCH. 

Shoreditch does not take its name from Jane Shore, as is gene¬ 
rally supposed, but from one Sir John de Sordich, a valiant knight 
in the time of Edward III., who was lord of the manor. This 
parish forms a part of the Tower Hamlets, and, according to the 
census of 1851, contained 109,209 inhabitants. 


SOHO SQUARE. 

This square was begun in the reign of Charles II. It was 
orifinally called Monmouth Square, after the unfortunate duke, 
who lived in the centre house; it was afterwards called.King’s 
Square, and subsequently Soho Square, that (Soho) being the 
battle-word of the day at the field of Sedgemoor. 




320 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ST. JAMES’S PARK. 

A park of eighty-seven acres, originally‘appertaining to the 
Palace of St James’s; first formed and walled in by Henry VIII.; 
replanted and beautified by Charles II.; and finally arranged by 
George IY. much as we now see it, in 1827,1828, and 1829. When 
George I. came first to England, lie talked of turning St James’ 
park into a turnip ground, and to employ turnip hoers. 

SAFFRON HILL. 

Saffron Hill was formerly a part of Ely gardens, and derives its 
name from the crops of saffron which it bore. 

SHERBORNE LANE. 

The immediate neighbourhood of Fenchurch Street was very 
fenny ground, and was intersected by various brooks, or bournes, 
which took various directions; one of these streams flowed into 
the Thames in a southerly direction, and was called Southbourn, 
and when built over gave a name to the lane now corrupted into 
Sherborne. 


SMITHFIELD. 

An open area containing five acres and three quarters, and used 
as a market for sheep, horses, cattle, and hay, for which it has been 
for centuries famous. Fitzstephen, who wrote in the reign of 
Henry II., says, Smitlifield was so called because it was a plain 
or smooth field. Stow says, it was at one time called The Elms, 
because it was covered with elm-trees; since the which time, saith 
he, building hath so increased, that now remaineth not one tree 
growing : he also adds, it hath been a place for honourable jousts 
and triumphs, by reason it was unpaved. Smithfield has been 
long .celebrated for its market and its Bartholomew fair. The 
cattle market will shortly be transferred to Copenhagen fields. 

ST JOHN’S GATE. 

St. John’s Gate is the only remaining part of a priory, founded 
there by the knights of St. J olm of Jerusalem. It was completed 
by Prior Docura about the year 1504; hence the name of the 
gate, as well as the Old Jerusalem Tavern. 

STEEL YARD. 

The place called the Steel Yard, in Thames Street, belonged 
to the corporation of Hanseatic merchants, who engrossed all the 
foreign trade of Europe. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


321 


The steelyard derives its name from its being the place where 
the’ King’s steelyard or beam was erected, for weighing the ton¬ 
nage of goods imported into London. 

STRAND. 

In the year 1353, the Strand was an open highway, with here 
and there a great man’s house, with gardens to the water side. 
There was no continued street till about the year 1532, when 
an Act was passed for a paving the street-wav between Charing 
Cross and Strand Cross, at the charge of the owners of the land 
before that, it entirely cut off Westminster from London, and 
nothing intervened except the scattered houses and a village, 
which afterwards gave a name to the whole. The parish of St. 
Clement Danes, originally consisted of the village Strande. The 
mansions of the Cecils, Bedfords, Yilliers, &c., are swept away; 
nought remains of the days of chivalry and ancient grandeur, 
(save Northumberland House); and a distant age will ask where 
the fabrics stood. Narrow streets and courts now bear the names 
of men who once swayed the destinies of England. 

SOMERSET HOUSE. 

In the year 1549, in the reign of Edward VI., the lord-protec¬ 
tor, Somerset, pulled down several churches and houses in the 
vicinity of the Thames, and built himself a palace thereon, now 
called Somerset House. The old brick palace just alluded to, 
was taken down in the beginning of the reign of George III., and 
the present magnificent palace built thereon. The architect w r as 
Sir William Chambers, son of a Scottish merchant residing at 
Stockholm. 

SPITALFIELDS.* 

The series of streets thus denominated, derive their appellation 
from an hospital that stood here in the reign of queen Elizabeth, 
and which was dedicated to St. Mary Spital. It was founded in 
1197, by Walter Brune and Mary his wife. 

Those who have passed through those parts of Spitalfields, 
chiefly inhabited by weavers, must have often heard them singing 
at their looms. Singular as it may seem, this practice came with 
their forefathers from the Low Countries, and also was the custom 
with such of the Protestants as at an earlier period came over 
from Flanders, and brought with them the woollen manufactory. 

SAVOY. 

This place derives its name from Peter, Earl of Savoy, who 
built a palace here in the reign of Henry III. Edward III. 

* See Spital Sermon. 


Y 




322 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


made a state prison of it; it was here his prisoner, King Jolm of 
Trance, was confined, and where after many years of captivity he 
breathed his last. It was burnt and entirely destroyed by Wat 
Tyler and his rebels (1381). It does not appear to have been 
rebuilt till 1505, when it was endowed by Henry VII. as an hos¬ 
pital, for the relief of 100 poor people. The sick and wounded in 
the Dutch war of 1666, were lodged here; and George I. turned 
it into a place of confinement for debtors. The ancient chapel of 
this once royal palace, which, contrary to ecclesiastical usage, 
stands north and south, has been restored, and its ceiling deco¬ 
llated by the munificence of Prince Albert. 

ST. JAMES’S PALACE. 

This antiquated building was commenced in the reign of Henry 
VII., and finished in that of Henry VIII. It derives its name 
from St. James’s Hospital, which formerly stood here, and which 
gave a cognomen to the adjacent street, as well as the diplomatic 
appellation of the Court of St. James’s. One day, after Peter the 
Great had visited the magnificent hospital of Greenwich, he went 
to St. James’s Palace to dine with King William. That prince 
asked him how he liked Greenwich Hospital ? “ Extremely well, 

Sir,” replied the Czar, “and, if I were permitted to advise your 
majesty, I should recommend to you to remove your Court thither, 
and convert your palace into an hospital.” 

SHAD WELL. 

This parish, which is one of the Tower Hamlets, has the name 
of Shadwell from a fine fountain, or well, which issues from under 
the wall of the churchyard, and which was originally dedicated 
to St. Chad. 

STEPNEY. 

It appears from Domesday Book that Stepney, in the Con¬ 
queror’s time, was a manor belonging to the Bishop of London, 
by the appellation of Stebenhede, a Saxon compound, implying 
Steben’s Heath. 

TOWER ROYAL. 

Here stood a strong and magnificent mansion, now a paltry and 
disreputable street. King Stephen resided therein, as did after¬ 
wards king Bichard II. and his mother; at which time it was 
indifferently called the Royal, or Queen’s Wardrobe. 

TEMPLE BAR. 

Before the present gate was built, there was a bar or barrier 
of posts and chains, which separated the Strand from Fleet Street, 
and which, from its vicinity to the Temple, received the name of 
Temple Bar. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


323 


THEOBALD’S ROAD. 

Theobald’s Road, so called because it was the road by which 
James I. travelled to Theobald’s House, in Hertfordshire, where 
he expired, strongly suspected of being poisoned. Theobald’s 
House was pulled down, 1765. 

THROGMORTON STREET. 

This street was named after Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, who 
is said to have been poisoned by Dudley, Earl of Leicester, queen 
Elizabeth’s favourite. There is a monument to his memory in 
the church of St. Catharine Cree. 

THREADNEEDLE STREET. 

So denominated, because those who resided here were princi¬ 
pally Tailors. The Tailors’ Company also built their Hall here, 
now called Merchant Tailors’ Hall. 

TOOLEY STREET. 

This street derives its name from an eminent wharfinger of 
the name of Tuley, who had a considerable property in this 
neighbourhood. 

TOKENHOUSE YARD. 

Prior to the reign of William and Mary, in which reign the 
Bank of England was first established, or incorporated, the go¬ 
vernment of the country had at different periods, for the facility 
of the commerce thereof, found it expedient to issue Tokens, not 
dissimilar to our recent Bank and Provincial Tokens. The place 
of issue was from this locality, and was called the Token House, 
and from which circumstance we derive the term of Tokenhouse 
Yard. 

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. 

As Theobald’s Road was so called, because it was the road by 
which king James I. went to his palace at Theobalds, in Herts, 
so Tottenham Court Road, because it was the road by which the 
queen’s majesty travelled to her palace at Tottenham Court, near 
Tottenham. 

TYBURN. 

Tyburn was formerly the place of execution for criminals con¬ 
victed in the county of Middlesex. It existed as early as the 
reign of Henry IV., and derives its name from Tyburn Brook, 
formerly called Aye-brook, or Eyebrook, afterwards St-Mary-le- 




324 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Bourne (St. Mary on the Brook), now corrupted into Marylebone, 
or Mary bone. 

WATLING STREET. 

The etymology of the name of this street has sufficiently exer¬ 
cised the ingenuity of our learned antiquaries. Perhaps the most 
natural solution is that given in the Gentleman's Magazine , Feb¬ 
ruary, 1796, where the writer derives it from the ancient British 
words gwaitli, work, and len, legion; from which, gwaithlen, i.e., 
legion-work, came, he supposes, the modern Watling. Dr. Jamie¬ 
son quotes Douglas and Henryson, that Watling Street denotes 
the Milky Way. “It has received,” says he, “ this designation, 
in the same manner as it was called by the Romans Via Lactea, , 
from its fancied resemblance to a broad street, or causeway, being 
as it were paved with stars.” 

WALBROOK. 

This street derives its name from a stream so called, says 
Stow, “ of running through and from the wall of the city.” It 
has long been arched over and built on, so that its course is now 
hardly known. 

WARWICK LANE. 

Warwick Lane, Newgate Street, derives its name from a house 
belonging to the famous Earl of Warwick, afterwards called 
Warwick Inn. 

WHITECHAPEL. 

This locality derives its name from a convent of White Nuns 
(i. e., nuns who wore a white dress) that formerly stood here, and 
which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the suppression 
of the monasteries, a chapel remained there for many years, and 
which, coupled with the former circumstance, gave the locality its 
present name. In the centre of the market is a little dirty alley, 
called Harrow Alley. In this place, above 190 years ago, dwelt 
that prince of wits,and excellent man, Daniel Defoe: here he wrote 
that much read and excellent moral work, Robinson Crusoe, and 
here he wrote a memorable melancholy History of the Plague, 
of which he was an eyewitness. 

WALWORTH. 

This suburb (for it is now nothing more) was originally a Manor 
in Surrey. It is written “ Walerode” in the Conqueror’s Survey, 
and Walworth’s Fields in the charter of Edward VI., granting 
the manor of Southwark to the City of London. 

IRISH SOCIETY OF THE CORPORATION OF LONDON. 

It is a curious fact, not generally known, that in the reign of 
James I. (1607). the greater part of six counties in the province 
of Ulster became vested in the crown, by an act of attainder of 
Shane O’Neil and other persons of dictinction, who had rebelled 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


325 


against the state ; and soon afterwards a project was suggested 
to the king, for establishing a Protestant colony on the forfeited 
estates, which was considered in council, approved, and published. 
In the year 1609, his majesty conceiving the City of London to 
be the body best able to undertake so important a work, made 
propositions for that purpose, which were considered at a con¬ 
ference held on the 30th of July, between the Earl of Salisbury, 
Lord High Treasurer, and the Lord Mayor, with some of the 
leading citizens: and after some further negotiation, articles of 
agreement were at length entered into, on the 28th of January, 
1610, between the Lords of Council on behalf of the King, and 
the committees appointed by act of Common Council, on behalf 
of the Lord Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London, con¬ 
cerning a plantation in part of the province of Ulster. In pur¬ 
suance of this agreement, the Corporation of London, with the 
assistance of the twelve principal companies, commenced the fulfil¬ 
ment of the conditions on their part; and having made great 
progress, the king, in the year 1613, granted a charter, by which 
a certain number of the citizens of London (all members of the 
Common Council, as their successors are at this day), were put 
in possession of the forfeited estates, and were ordained and con¬ 
stituted one body, corporate and politic, who should be called by 
the name of “ The Society of the Governor and Assistants of 
London, of the New Plantation of Ulster” (now commonly called 
the Irish Society). Soon after obtaining the charter, all the lands 
granted by it were divided, by persons appointed for that service, 
into thirteen parts ; of which one, consisting of the city of Lon¬ 
donderry,* the town of Coleraine, &c., was retained by the 
governor and assistants ; and one of the other twelve was assigned 
to each of the twelve companies who had assisted the corporation 
in the undertaking. The authority for this proceeding, was a 
license granted by the king for that purpose. In the reign of 
Charles I., the citizens having offended the king, the charter 
was in a most arbitrary manner annulled and cancelled by the 
Court of Chancery, but it was restored by Charles II.; and it is 
by this renewed charter, and renewed grants from the Irish 
Society, that the Twelve Companies hold.— Sturch's Pamphlet on 
the Condition of Ireland. 

ROYAL ACADEMY. 

An attempt had been made in 1759, to form an association of 
artists, and an exhibition of works of art, when a society was 
formed, and met in St. Martin’s Lane, under the name of an 
Academy, and in the following year they had their first exhibition, 
under the sanction of the Society of Arts. The first effort was 
promising, and after a few exhibitions they were incorporated 
under the title of “ The Society of Artists of Great Britain.” 

* Prior to this period it was called Derry. 






326 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


The combination of a body of painters with a society embracing 
manufactures and commerce was not permanent; and three years 
after, i. e., 1769, the “Royal Academy” was established, and was 
so called in consequence of George III. being its founder. The 
Academy was constituted December 10, 1768, opened its first 
exhibition in Somerset House, May 1780, but removed from 
Somerset House, and opened its first exhibition in Trafalgar 
Square, May 1838. 

SCOTS CORPORATION. 

The origin of this corporation, says Maitland, is owing to James 
Kinnier, a Scotsman, and merchant of this city ; who, after a 
long and dangerous illness, determined to give part of his estate 
toward the relief of the aged and necessitous poor of his own 
country, within the cities of London and Westminster. To which 
end, and for the more effectually settling what he intended to 
give for that purpose, he was advised by counsel to apply for a 
charter. This was granted in the reign of James I., and thus 
originated the “ Scots Corporation.” 

CHARITY FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR WIDOWS AND SONS OF THE 

CLERGY. 

By his majesty’s (Charles II.) charter, bearing date 1st July, 
1678, a body politic and corporate was constituted by the name 
of “ The Governors of the Charity for the Relief of Poor Widows 
and Children of Clergymen,” with license to possess any estate, 
not exceeding the value of £2000. Afterwards, upon the acces¬ 
sion of Dr. Thomas Turner’s gift, which amounted to about 
£18,000, the governors (December 16, 1714) obtained an aug¬ 
mentation of the said grant, by a license to possess the yearly 
value of £3000, over and above all charges and reprises ; as also 
over and above the said £2000 per annum. 

THE WILSONIAN FUND. 

This useful fund originated from one Samuel Wilson of London, 
who bequeathed £20,000 to be lent out in small sums to indus¬ 
trious tradesmen. He died 1771. 

THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 

All arts and sciences began to revive and flourish at the Resto¬ 
ration, and the English tongue was exceedingly improved and 
refined. The “ Royal Society ” was established in 1663, by the 
King’s Letters-Patent, for the improvement of philosophy, ma¬ 
thematics, physic, and all useful knowledge; of which the first 
promoters and members were Dr. Ward, Mr. Boyle, Lord Brounker 
Dr. Wilkins, Dr. Wallis, Sir William Petty, Dr. Goddard, Dr.’ 
Willis, Dr. Bathurst, Sir Christopher Wren, and Mr. Rook. ’ 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


327 


Hume says, amidst the thick cloud of bigotry and ignorance 
which overspread the nation during the Commonwealth and 
Protectorship, there was a few sedate philosophers, who in the 
retirement of Oxford cultivated their reason, and established 
conferences for the mutual communication of their discoveries in 
physic and geometry. Wilkins, a clergyman, who had married 
Cromwell’s sister, and was afterwards bishop of Chester, promoted 
these philosophical conversations. Immediately after the Resto¬ 
ration these men procured a patent, and having enlarged their 
number, were denominated the “ Royal Society.” But this patent 
was all they obtained from the king. Though he was a lover of 
the sciences, particularly chemistry and mechanics, he encouraged 
them by his example alone, not by his bounty. The Society 
held its first meetings in Gresham College; and, after the great 
fire, in Arundel House. The Society subsequently returned 
to Gresham College; but in 1710 removed to Crane Court, Fleet 
Street, and from thence, in 1782, to its present place of meeting in 
Somerset House. 


ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS, &c. 

After the dissolution of the monasteries and other religious 
houses, the mayor and citizens of London, taking into their 
consideration how commodious and convenient it would be unto 
the city, to have the Borough of Southwark annexed thereunto, 
and that the same borough was in the king’s hands wholly, they 
became suitors unto Henry VIII., and unto the lords of his 
highness’ privy council, for the obtaining of the same; which 
suit not being granted unto them, after the decease of Henry 
VIII. they renewed their suit unto Edward VI., and to the lords 
of the privy council, for the obtaining of the same borough. 
At length, after long suit, it pleased King Edward VI., by his 
letters-patent, bearing date of Westminster there, the 23rd 
day of April, in the fourth year of his reign, as well in considera¬ 
tion of the sum of £647: 2: 1, of lawful money of England, paid 
to his highness’s use, by the mayor and citizens of London, as 
for divers other considerations him thereunto moving, to give 
and grant unto the said mayor and citizens of London, divers 
messuages, lands, and tenements, lying near the Borough of 
Southwarke, in the said letters-patent particularly expressed, 
which were sometimes the land of Charles, late duke of Suffolke, 
and of whom Henry VIII. did buy and purchase the same. But 
there was excepted out of the said grant, and reserved unto Edward 
VI., his heirs and successors, all that, his capital niessuage or 
mansion-house, called Southwarke Palace, late of the said Duke of 
Suffolke, and all gardens and land to the same adjoining; and all 
that, his park in Southwarke, and all that, his messuage, and all 
edifices and ground called the Antelope there. 


> 





328 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ETYMONS OE SEVERAL COUNTRIES, ISLANDS, SEAS, TOWNS, 
PROVINCES, REMARKABLE PLACES, &c. 


‘ ATLANTIC OCEAN. 

Atlantic, or Atlantic Ocean, derives its name from Mount Atlas, 
in Africa, and extends between the west continents of Africa and 
Europe, and the east continent of America. Its least breadth, 
from Guinea in Africa, to Brazil in South Americans 2,300 miles. 
On one side the equator, it is called the North Atlantic Ocean ; 
on the other, the South Atlantic Ocean. 

AZORES, OR WESTERN ISLANDS. 

Azores, or Western Islands, a group of islands in the Atlantic, 
between 25 and 30 west longitude, and 37 and 40 north latitude, 
795 miles west of Portugal. They are nine in number, viz., St. 
Maria, St. Michael, Terceira, St. George, Graciosa, Fayal, Pico, 
Flores, and Corvo. They were discovered in 1430, by Joshua 
Yanderberg of Bruges, who in a voyage to Lisbon was driven 
thus far to the westward by stress of weather. Boasting of his . 
discovery on his arrival at Lisbon, the Portuguese government 
fitted out an expedition and took possession of these Islands, and 
called them the Agores, from the number of hawks found among 
them. Agore, being the Portuguese for hawk. 

ATHENS. 

Minerva was worshipped by the Athenians before the age of 
Cecrops, in whose time Athens was founded, and its name taken 
from Minerva, whom the Greeks called aQw. It was proposed 
to call the city either by her name or that of Neptune, and as 
each had partisans, and the women had votes equal to the men, 
Cecrops called all the citizens together, both men and women; 
the suffrages were collected; and it was found that all the 
women had voted for Minerva, and all the men for Neptune; but 
the women exceeding the men by one voice, Athens was called 
after Minerva. A temple was dedicated to her in the city, with 
her statue in gold and ivory, thirty-nine feet high, executed by 
Phidias. 

AMERICA. 

So called from Americus Vesputius, who, having accompanied 
Ojeda, who in 1499 followed in the steps of Columbus, and 
having had a share in the direction of it himself, had published 
an account of it on his return. The country of which he was 
















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


329 


supposed to be the discoverer, came gradually to be called by 
his name. He died 1512. 

North America was first discovered by Giovanni Cabot, a 
Venetian in the service of England, in 1497. 

ARUNDEL. 

The etymology of this town has been variously conjectured by 
eome of the first antiquaries, and many writers have entertained 
a difference of opinion. It has been justly observed, that names 
of places must have reference to peculiarity of site, or retaining 
the meaning of certain local particulars. However, in the 
uncertainty of finding the etymology correct, it is not impro¬ 
bable that the antiquary may meet with discoveries tending to 
convey amusement and instruction, and which perhaps may 
serve to gratify the curiosity of those who may not have the 
leisure for similar studies and investigations. 

Camden, who was so celebrated an antiquary, patronised by 
Thomas, earl of Arundel, in 1630, says, that this town was a 
place of great name, and he derives its etymon from a valley, or 
dale, running along the river Arun. 

Another supposition pretends to derive some weight from two 
Belgic words, Eron and del, signifying a flat place covered with 
W'ater, and whence also may be derived Hirundo and Hirondelle,* 
as the low parts adjacent was formerly a morass, or reedy place 
much frequented by swallows, and which bird, being in the 
present arms of Arundel, strengthens the argument in favour 
of its being built by the Belgics. 

ALL THE RUSSIAS. 

The term, All the Russias, is founded on the ancient division 
of Russia, which comprehended the provinces of Great, or Black 
Russia, Little, or Reel Russia, and White Russia, it derives its 
name from Rurik, a Baltic freebooter, who in 850 made himself 
master of the greater part of the country, and founded a dynasty 
which continued to rule till 1598. St. Petersburgh took its name 
from having been founded by Peter the Great. 

ABYSSINIA. 

Abyssinia, in Africa, has been called by different names, parti¬ 
cularly by that of Habessinia, from the Arabic word Habesh, 
which signifies a mixture, the country being peopled by various 
nations; but other inhabitants call it Itjopia, or Ethiopia. The 
name of Abyssinia became known in Europe from the Portuguese 
missionaries who penetrated there, and who often wrote the 

* French for Swallow. 




330 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


names of the country and the people respectively in the latinized 
forms of Abassia and Abassinos; from which our common term 
Abyssinia is derived. 

BATH. 

This city was a Roman station, and derives its name from the 
celebrated Roman baths discovered there. Considerable Roman 
remains have been discovered in, and about its neighbourhood. 
Portions of a large temple were discovered, and are preserved in 
the Bath Institution. Towards the east of this building stood 
the principal baths, which were discovered in 1755. 

BLENHEIM. 

A small village on the Danube, in Bavaria. It was the scene 
of Marlborough’s great victory, who in 1704 totally defeated the 
French and Bavarian forces under Marshal Tallard. To per¬ 
petuate the memory of the military services of this illustrious 
man, the royal manor of Woodstock, with the demesne, compri¬ 
sing the hundred of Wootton, was granted by queen Anne to him 
and his heirs for ever, to be held by grand sergeantry. 

BATTLE BRIDGE. 

West of Barnesbury Park, and close to the footpath from 
thence to Copenhagen House, were the supposed remains of a 
Roman encampment. It was a square of 120 feet, surrounded by 
a ditch, with a high embankment or breast-work to the west. 
This is presumed to have been a position occupied by Suetonius, 
the Roman general, when he destroyed 80,000 of the Britons 
under Boadicea, in a memorable engagement presumed to have 
been fought from this place, in the fields of Pentonville, and 
terminating in the plain of Battle Bridge : hence the name. The 
prsetorium is now occupied by the house and grounds of a retired 
military officer, who has built a mansion in the style of an em¬ 
battled dwelling. 

BRIGHTON. 

Brighthelmstone, or as it is now termed, Brighton, is said to 
have been a place of note in early times, but of this fact we have 
no precise record. Bailey in his Dictionary observes, that it was 
St. Brighthelm, a Saxon, who gave the name to the town. Skin¬ 
ner says, Brighton was so named from Brighthelm, a canonised 
bishop of Fontenoy, in France, who lived so late as the tenth 
century. Other testimonies state, that it was a Saxon bishop of 
that name, who resided here during the Heptarchy, who gave his 
name to the town. This supposition is more probable ; for we 
find, that when Ella with his three sons (Cirnen, Wiencing, and 













THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


331 


Cisa) effected their landing at West Wittering, SW. of Chiches¬ 
ter, anno 447, and defeating the Britons, who endeavoured to 
oppose him, took possession of all the maritime parts of the 
country. Ella thus laid the foundation of the kingdom of the 
South Saxons, from which the country derives its name. Briglit- 
lielme accompanied this army. One of his successors resided at 
Aldrington, and held a considerable portion of land until the 
year 693, when that bishop was killed in battle. This is stated 
by Stillingfleet and other writers, but no mention is made of the 
place where the engagement was fought. 

About the time of the Norman Conquest, a colony of Flemings 
are supposed to have established themselves for the purpose of 
fishing. The town was plundered and burned by the French, in 
1513. During the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, fortifi¬ 
cations were erected to protect it. 

Brighton became a watering-place about the middle of the 18th 
century, but its progress was slow until it was rendered a place 
of fashionable resort by George IV., then Prince of Wales, who 
selected it for a summer residence. 

Between Brighton and Lewes are still to be seen lines and 
intrenchmeuts, apparently Roman, and some years ago an urn 
was dug up, containing 1000 silver denarii, on which were im¬ 
pressions of all the emperors. 

BERWICK-UPON-TWEED. 

Berwick, being a kind of Gibraltar to Scotland, was long a bone 
of contention between England and that country. Edward VI., 
and Mary, Queen of Scotland, by treaty made it a county town, 
and, as Rymer’s Federa notes it, a free town, independent of both 
states. Since the reign of Queen Mary, it has sent two members 
to the English House of Commons. 

Camden says : “ At the epoch of Domesday Book, Berwica 
signified a village which appertained to some manor, or town : 
and as Tothill was called the Berewicke of Westminster, in the 
donation of Edward the Confessor, the town on the Tweed was 
called the Berewicke of Coldingham.” The castle of Berwick was 
first ceded as part of the ransom of William the Lion, but it was 
restored by William Cceur de Lion, in 1189. 

BARNESBURY PARK. 

The row of handsome cottages called Barnesbury Park, Isling¬ 
ton, are in the manor of Berners, or Bernersbury, otherwise 
Barnesbury ; the name being derived from the Berners’ family, 
of whom the most distinguished individual was John Bourchier, 
the last Lord Berners, and the fifth writer in order of time among 
the nobility. He was Governor of Calais under Henry VIII 



332 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


and translated “Froissart’s Cronycles out of Frenche into our 
maternale Englysshe tongue.” 

BALTIMORE. 

This capital, as it may be termed, of the province of Maryland, 
in North America, derives its name from Lord Baltimore, who 
colonized the said province in 1633. The town was first laid out 
in 1729, and in 1765 contained only thirty houses. It received a 
charter as a city in 1797, and since that period its extension has 
been very rapid. The population is now upwards of 103,000. 

BERMUDAS. 

Bermudas, or Sommer’s Islands, four islands in the Atlantic 
Ocean, 100 miles east of Carolina, and surrounded by rocks. They 
were discovered by Juan Bermudas, a Spaniard, in 1522; but not 
inhabited till 1609, when Sir George Sommers was cast away upon 
them ; and they have belonged to Britain ever since. They contain 
9000 inhabitants, who carry on some trade with America and the 
West Indies. Three of them are small, and the principal one is 
called St. George. 

BRAZILS. 

Brazil, a country of South America, which gives the title of 
Prince to the heir-apparent of the crown of Portugal. It extends 
from North to South about 2600 miles, and from East to West about 
2400. It was discovered in 1500 by Alvarez Cabral, a Portu¬ 
guese, who was forced upon it by a tempest; and it derived its 
name from the abundance of Brazil, or Brasil, wood found here. 

CAMBRIDGE. 

Cambridge ( Cantabrigia , Latin), a country town of England, 
situated on the river Cam, eleven miles east of Ely, and fifty-one 
north of London. It was the Camboritum, or Granta, of the 
Romans, and a well-known station of that people, as the numerous 
urns, coins, and other antiquities dug up here attest. The modern 
town is of small consideration, except for its connection with the 
University, being only about a mile in length, and half a mile 
broad ; the best streets are Trumpington Street, and St. Andrew’s 
Street, united with Regent Street towards Gosrnao-oo- hills • but 
the whole is well paved. ° ° ° 

CANTERBURY. 

Canterbury is called, by Bede and others, Dorobernia; by the 
Saxons, “ the city of the people of Kentby the Britons, Caer 
Kent, or the city of Kent; and by the Latins, Cantuaria. This 
place is generally agreed to have been the Roman Durovernum— 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 333 

and it is famous for being the archiepiscopal seat of the Primate 
of England. The Saxon kings of Kent had their residence here 
from the arrival of Hengist to the sixth century. 

COLOMBIA. 

This name, borne by a portion of South America, is derived 
from Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, famous for his being the 
discoverer of this vast continent, although its general appellation 
of America was given it from an after discoverer. Columbus 
was born in 1442, and made his celebrated discovery October 
12, 1492. 

Colombia is now divided into the three republics of Venezuela, 
New Granada, and Ecuador. 

CONSTANTINOPLE. 

This capital of the modern Turkish empire derives its name 
from Constantine the Great, who founded the eastern empire of 
Pome. Prior to his conquest of it, it was called Byzantium, 
famed in history as a bone of contention between the Tamerlanes 
and Badjazets. One part of the city is called Pera, and is 
inhabited by the Franks, a name given by the Turks to all 
European Christians. It was taken in 1453 by the Turks, who 
have kept possession of it ever since. 

CORSICA. 

The ancient Greeks gave this island the name of Cyrnus; and 
to the Romans it was known by its present appellation. By the 
French it is called Corse. Inhabited at first by a colony of 
Phoenicians, it was afterwards occupied successively by the 
Phoceans, and Etruscans, and the Carthaginians. The Romans 
succeeded to the latter, and settled two colonies here, which was 
the place of exile for the Roman courtiers when they became 
obnoxious to the Emperors. On the destruction of the Roman 
empire, Corsica fell successively under the dominion of the Goths, 
the Greek Emperors, the Lombards, and the Saracens; the latter, 
it is supposed, first gave it the title of a kingdom. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, in this island, 15th 
August 1769. 

CANONBURY. 

A manor in the village of Islington, given to the Prior and 
Convent of St. Bartholomew in Smitlifield, by Ralph de Berners. 
The date of the gift is unknown, but the estate is enumerated 
among the possessions of the priory, in a confirmation granted by 
Henry III., bearing date 1253; and when the religious houses 
were dissolved, Henry VIII. gave the manor to Thomas, Lord 
Cromwell; it was afterwards a hunting-seat of Queen Elizabeth’s, 
and ultimately passed through other hands till it was possessed 


334 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


by Sir John Spencer, an alderman and lord mayor of London, 
known by the name of “ Rich Spencer,” and who was the founder 
of the Northampton family, to whom this property belongs. It 
was here Goldsmith wrote his “ Deserted Village.” 

DEAD SEA. 

So called from its stillness and bad qualities. No fish will live 
in its waters. It occupies the site of the plain of Siddim, where 
stood Sodom and Gomorrah. It has, however, been said, that 
this water has a repulsive force, which makes men and animals 
float on its surface, and Josephus relates an experiment which 
was made on the subject by the Emperor Vespasian. “ Having 
caused the feet and hands,” says he, “ of some of his slaves to be 
tied, he ordered them to be thrown into the sea, in his presence, 
in the deepest part thereof. None of them sunk to the bottom, 
and they all remained on the surface until it pleased the prince 
to give orders for their being taken out again.” 

DOWNS. 

This term, as applied to that part of the Channel lying near to 
the Sands, off the coast of Kent, derives its name from the cir¬ 
cumstance, that it was at one period a grazing land for sheep, 
and which formed a part of the estate of the celebrated Earl 
Godwin. The land, however, in consequence of great inroads of 
the sea, ultimately disappeared, but the place has ever since 
retained the name of “ the Downs,” famed as a rendezvous for 
shipping. 

DAYIS STRAITS. 

» 

These Straits were discovered by Captain John Davis, in the 
year 1585, in consequence of which they were named after him. 

ENGLAND. 

England, originally spelt Engle-land, means the land of the 
Angles. The names of places on the Lower Rhine, and more 
especially in Guelderland, point to the origin of the English; for 
instance, Engelanderholt, Engelenburg , and Angerlo. Eng eland, 
near Beckbergen, is mentioned in Bondam’s Charter-Book as 
villa Englandi , a.d. 801. It was not till the year 527 that the 
first Angles arrived in this country. From that time they made 
a succession of descents, under various petty chiefs, upon the 
coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk. From the first arrival of the 
Saxons into Britain to the time they established a permanent 
settlement in it, during a period of a century and a half, 
the following kingdoms were founded: 1. Kent, consisting of the 
present county of that name, a.d. 457. 2. Sussex, the present 
county, a.d. 491. 3. Wessex, including Surrey, Hants, with the 

Isle of Wight, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and part 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


335 


of Cornwall, a.d. 519. 4. Essex, including the present counties 
of Essex and Middlesex, and the southern part of Hertfordshire, 
a.d. 527. 5. Northumbria, consisting of the sometimes separate, 

but commonly united states of Bernicia and Deira, the former 
including Northumberland, and the south-eastern counties of 
Scotland, a.d. 547; the latter, Cumberland, Durham, Westmore¬ 
land, York, and Lancaster, a.d. 560. 6. East Anglia, including 

Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, a.d. 571. 
7. Mercia, including Chester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, 
Shropshire, Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, Northampton, Hunt¬ 
ingdon, Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Gloucester, Oxford, 
Buckingham, and parts of Hertford and Bedford, a.d. 585. This 
assemblage of states has been commonly called the Heptarchy, 
for which Mr. Turner has proposed to substitute the Octarchy, 
on the ground that Deira and Bernicia ought to be considered as 
two distinct kingdoms. It has been asserted that this republic of 
states was moderated by the controlling authority of one supreme 
king, to whom Bede and the Saxon Chronicle have attributed 
the title of Bretwalda, or Emperor of Britain; but this title, if 
ever assumed, was the effect, not of law, but of conquest. Ethel- 
bert, who was king of Kent before 568, is supposed to have been 
acknowledged a^, Bretwalda from 589 till his death in 616. 

EUROPE. 

This part of the globe was formerly called by the Romans, as 
it is at present by the Spaniards and Italians, by the name of 
Europa;* but from whence that name originated has not been 
determined.—By the English and French, it is styled Europe; by 
the Turks, Alfrank, or Rumalia; by the Georgians of Asia, 
Frankoba; and by the Asiatics in general, Frankistan. The 
earliest notices of Europe are in the writings of the Greeks. 
Homer, who probably lived about 1000 years b.c., was acquainted 
with the countries round the HCgean Sea or Archipelago, and on 
the South coast of the Black Sea. 

EDINBURGH. 

Edwin, king of Northumbria, possessed the entire territory 
from the banks of the Humber to the shores of the Frith of 
Forth; and it seems highly probable that the appellation of this 
city was originally Edwin’s-berg, or Edwin’s-burgli, now Edin¬ 
burgh. 

EDMUND’S BURY. 

St. Edmund’s Bury, or Bury St. Edmund’s, or simply Bury, as 
it is termed by some, derives its name from Edmund the Martyr, 

* See Heathen Mythology—Jupiter and Europa. 


336 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


who was buried here. We are told, that “Canute paid great 
respect to the memory of St. Edmund, and built a magnificent 
church over his grave, since called Edmundsbury, in Suffolk, as 
well as a monastery.” 

ESCUPJAL OF SPAIN. 

This palace was built by Philip II., son of Charles V., Emperor 
of Germany, in the shape of a Gridiron, out of compliment to 
St. Lawrence, of Gridiron notoriety. The name of the building 
has a very humble origin. Ferruginous ores abound in the 
neighbouring mountains. Escoria, from the Latin Scoria , is the 
term in the Spanish language for metallic dross, and Escorial is 
the topographic derivation, signifying the locality for this dross. 
A corruption from the etymology has occasioned the change of 
the second vowel, whence the name Escurial. It is the country 
palace and mausoleum of the Spanish kings. 

FLAMSTEAD HOUSE. 

The Observatory in Greenwich Park derives its name of 
“ Flamstead House,” from John Flamstead, the astronomer-royal, 
who, on the 10th of August 1675, laid the foundation stone of 
the said observatory, for watching the motions of the celestial 
bodies. He died at Greenwich, 31st December 1719. 

FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 

A group of Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, so named by 
Captain Cook in 1773, on account of the friendship that appeared 
to subsist among the inhabitants, and their truly courteous be¬ 
haviour to strangers. 

GRAMPIAN HILLS. 

A chain of hills in Scotland, which extend in a north-east 
direction from the mountain Benlomond, in Dumbartonshire, 
through the counties of Perth, Angus, and Kincardine, to Aber¬ 
deen; and thence in a north-west direction, through the counties 
of Aberdeen, Banff, and Murray, and on the borders of Inver¬ 
ness. They take their name from a single hill, the Mons Gram- 
pius of Tacitus, and where the battle was fought so fatal to the 
brave Caledonians. Many of the Grampians are evidently vol¬ 
canic, being composed of basalts and lava. 

GOODWIN SANDS. 

These dangerous shoals derive their name from the famous 
Earl Godwin, the father of King Harold, and who was one of 
the first who bore the title of Earl. Where the Sands are now, 
was formerly a large tract of land, that formed part of his estate, 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


337 


which was inundated by the sea in 1100, and which has ever 
since been rendered memorable for the loss of life as well as 
property. 

GERMANY. 

Germany was originally called Allemania, from Alleman, i. e. y 
in German, “ every man,” denoting, that all nations were welcome 
there. It derives the title of Germany from the celebrated Ger- 
manicus. 

GREENWICH. 

We have traces of a royal residence at this place so early as 
the year 1300, when Edward I. made an offering of 7s. at each 
of the holy crosses in the chapel of the Virgin Mary, Greenwich, 
and the prince made an offering of half that sum. Henry IV. 
dates his will 1408, from his manor of Greenwich. Henry VII. 
resided much at this place, where his second son (afterwards 
Henry VIII.), and his third son, Edmund Tudor (created Duke 
of Somerset), were born. Henry VIII., from his partiality to it, 
bestowed great cost upon Greenwich, till he made it, as Lambarde 
says, “ a pleasant, perfect, and princely palace.” During his 
reign, it became one of the principal scenes of that festivity for 
which his court was celebrated. King Henry’s marriage with 
his first queen, Katherine of Arragon, was solemnized at Green¬ 
wich, June 5, 1510. In 1512 he kept his Christmas here, “with 
great and plentiful cheer;” and again, 1513, “with great solem¬ 
nity, dancing, disguisings, and mummers, in a most princely 
manner.” At this celebrity was introduced the first masquerade 
ever seen in England. Edward VI. kept his Christmas at Green¬ 
wich in 1552-3 ; George Ferrers, Esq., of Lincoln’s Inn, being 
“ lorde of the merrie disporte.” This amiable monarch closed his 
short reign at Greenwich palace on the 6th of July following. 
Queen Mary was born here, February 8, 1515, and Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, September 7, 1533. The hospital founded by William and 
Mary, occupies the site of the old palace. 

HIGHBURY-BARN. 

Highbury-barn is a place noted for London tea-drinkers. It 
was in the olden time a barn belonging to the monks of Clerken- 
well, now a tavern famed for its good cheer. 

ft 

HAG-BUSH LANE. 

Hag is the old Saxon word haeg, which became corrupted into 
haugh, and afterwards into haw, and is the name for the berry 
of the hawthorn; also, the Saxon word haga signified a hedge, 
or any enclosure. Hence Hag, or Hawthorn-Bush Lane. 

z 





338 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


HERNE’S OAK. 

Every one wlio lias seen Shakspeare’s admirable comedy of the 
“ Merry Wives of Windsor” represented on the stage, or even 
read it, has no doubt pictured to himself “ Herne’s Oak,” where 
the fat and licentious knight is cleverly outwitted by the two 
dames of Windsor. Sir John Falstaff, whatever may be his 
situation, never loses his temper, or even his good-humour; and 
when at midnight he is approaching Herne’s Oak, disguised with 
a buck’s head on, to meet Mrs. Page aud Mrs. Ford, he finds room 
for self-consolation. ‘‘Remember Jove,” says he, “thou wast a 
bull for thy Europa: love set on thy horns. O powerful love ! that, 
in some respects, makes a beast of a man; in some other, a man 
a beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda ;— 
O, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion 
of a goose.” 

Herne’s Oak, a tree thus immortalized by Shakspeare, stood on 
the south-east side of the little park of Windsor. The reason 
why it was selected for the frolic with Sir John Falstaff, is the 
tradition attached to it, which Mrs. Page thus relates:— 

“ There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter. 

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest, 

Doth all the winter time, at still midnight, 

Walk round about an oak with great ragg’d horns; 

And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle, 

And makes milch kyne yield blood, and shakes a chain 
In a most hideous and dreadful manner: 

You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know, 

The superstitious idle-headed eld 
Deceived, and did deliver to our age, 

This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.” 

Herne is said to have been keeper of the forest in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth, and having been guilty of some offence, for 
which he expected to be discharged, hung himself upon this oak. 

HASTINGS. 

This town is on the eastern extremity of the coast of Sussex. 
Its Saxon name signified a town or castle, and owes its origin, 
according to Camden, to one Hasting, a Danish pirate, who, 
where he landed for booty, built sometimes little fortresses. This 
town is celebrated in English history for being the place where 
William the Conqueror first landed in this country; and also for 
the battle of Hastings, fought shortly after, by which the Norman 
duke gained the throne of England. 

HOLY ISLAND. 

The Isle of Lindisfarne, on the coast of Durham, is thus deno¬ 
minated, because of the number of saints there bulled. 







THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


339 


HARMONY SETTLEMENT, N. AMERICA. 

This extraordinary and flourishing German colony was founded 
by a German enthusiast named Rapp, who, in order to promote 
harmony among those who settled there, laid certain restrictions 
upon marriage! These restrictions were to prevent more than a 
certain quantum of births within a certain number of years; 
which births (as Mr. ITulme says) generally arrive “ in a little 
flock, like those of a farmer’s lambs, all within the same month 
perhaps.” These Harmonists (so called from the name of their 
settlement) are represented as a remarkably flourishing, pious, 
and quiet people. See the various recent writers on America. 

IIINDOSTAN. 

Our empire in the East Indies, under this appellation, or 
Indostan more properly, is derived from the river Indus, which 
flows throughout the country. Hindostan extends from Cape 
Comorin to the Himalaya Mountains. 

HOLYROOD HOUSE. 

The name of an ancient palace and abbey which stands at the 
eastern extremity of the old town of Edinburgh. The Abbey of 
Holyrood is contiguous to the Palace of the same name, and 
according to tradition was founded by David I., in the year 
1128. The traditionary accounts which occasioned its erection 
are thus related:—King David I., being on a hunting match 
in the forest of Drumselch, near Edinburgh, on a rood-day, was 
attacked by a large hart, and his life was in the utmost danger.— 
While he was endeavouring to defend himself with his hands 
against the furious assaults of the animal, a miraculous cross 
from heaven slipped into his hand, which so frightened the stag 
that he retreated immediately. This wonderful circumstance 
having of course put an end to the chase, David repaired to the 
castle of Edinburgh, where, in a dream, he was instructed to 
erect an abbey, or house, for canons regular, on the place 
where the celestial cross was put into his hands. In obedience 
to this visionary command, the king erected an abbey for the 
said purpose, and dedicated it to the Holy-Rood, or Holy-Cross, 
and deposited the same therein, where it is said to have remained 
till the reign of David II. 

HELLESPONT. 

These Straits, famed in classic lore, and more especially as the 
scene of a feat performed by our immortal bard, Lord Byron,* 
derives its original name (now Dardanelles) from Helle, the 
* Who himself swam across the widest part. 





340 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


daughter of Athamas, king of Thebes, who, with her brother 
Phryxus, flying from their stepmother, ventured to pass a 
narrow part of this sea, where she was drowned, and left her name 
to the straits thereof, which was after called the Hellespont. 

ST. HELENA. 

This island, which will be particularly noticed in the pages of 
future, history as the sepulchre of one of the most extraordinary 
men the world ever produced, was first discovered by the Portu¬ 
guese in the year 1502, on St. Helen’s day, and her name was 
given to it, according to the universal practice of early navigators, 
of naming their discoveries from the Roman Calendar. Helena 
was daughter of Coilus, wife of Constantius, and mother of 
Constantine the Great. She first walled the city of London. 

ISLE OF MAN. 

The name of Man, is supposed to refer to its situation as to the 
surrounding kingdoms, from the Saxon word mang , signifying 
among; others suppose the word to originate from Maune, the 
name of St. Patrick, the apostle of the island, before he assumed 
that of Patricius. By Cresar, it is called Mona. All late writers 
agree that Mona Csesaris is Man; but Mona Taciti belongs to 
Anglesey. Early writers call it Monada Menavia Secunda (to 
distinguish it from Anglesey), Eubonia, &c. The monks derive 
it traditionally from “Manna Man Maclea,” an early king, who 
first conquered the island. By the inhabitants the island is 
called Manning, and by the people in general Man. 

KINGSTON. > 

So called, from the Kings of England having their residence 
and beiug anciently crowned there. The rude stone on which 
they were anciently crowned formerly stood against the old town- 
hall, and on the rebuilding of the town-hall in 1837, it was 
removed to the yard of the assize-court; but a few years ago 
it was placed on a septagonal block of stone, standing in the 
centre of seven pillars, connected together by an iron railing. 
The inauguration of the monument took place on the 19th 
September, 1850, in the presence of the mayor and corporation, and 
a large number of visiters. 

KENT. 

The name of Kent is probably Celtic, and is called by the Latins 
Cantium. Lambarde derives it from the Welsh Caine, a leaf, 
because the country formerly abounded in woods ; but Camden, 
from Canton , a corner, “ because England in this place stretcheth 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


341 


out itself in a corner to the north-east.” Kent being situate 
nearest the Continent of Europe, has often been the theatre of 
great actions. It was in this county that Julius Csesar landed, 
when he came to invade Britain; it was the place first seized by 
the Saxons after they had defeated the northern barbarians; and 
Christianity was first preached at Canterbury by Augustine and 
his followers. At the period of the arrival of the Romans, it was 
governed by four British chiefs, and it was the first, although not 
the largest, kingdom of the heptarchy. 

MONTMARTRE. 

A village and height near Paris. By some it is supposed to 
derive its name from a temple of Mars, which formerly stood on 
its summit; it was afterwards called Mons Mercurii (probably 
because the temple was converted to his service), and at a later 
period, in consequence of the death of St. Denis and his disciples 
here, it acquired its present name. 

MAURITIUS. 

The Mauritius, or Isle of France, is 400 miles east of Mada¬ 
gascar. Discovered by the Portuguese in 1505; but the first who 
settled here were the Dutch, in 1640. They called it Mauritius, 
in honour of Prince Maurice, their Stadtholder; but on their 
acquisition of the Cape of Good Hope, they deserted it, and it 
continued unsettled till the French landed here in 1720. They 
remained in the undisturbed possession of it to the year 1810, 
when it was taken from them by the British, who since the peace 
of 1814 have retained it in their possession. 

MASSACHUSETS. 

One of the States of North America. It was so named from a 
tribe of Indians who formerly inhabited this quarter. It is 150 
miles long and 90 broad; bounded on the north by New Hamp¬ 
shire, and west by New York. The first settlement was formed 
in 1620, at Plymouth, by about 120 families of Nonconformists. 
The first constitution was formed in 1780, and was revised and 
modified in 1820. 

MARSEILLES. 

The history of Marseilles is full of interest. Its origin borders 
on romance. Six hundred years before the Christian era, a band 
of piratical adventurers from Ionia, in Asia Minor, by dint of 
superior skill in navigation, pushed their discoveries to the mouth 
of the Rhine. Charmed with the white cliffs, green vales, blue 
waters, and bright skies, which they here found, they returned to 


342 


THE ETTMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


their native country, and persuaded a colony to follow them to 
the barbarous shores of Gaul, bearing with them their religion, 
language, manners, and customs. On the very day of their arrival, 
so says tradition, the daughter of the native chief was to choose 
a husband, and her affections were placed upon one of the leaders 
of the polished emigrants. The friendship of the aborigines was 
conciliated by marriage, and their rude manners were softened 
by the refinement of their new allies in war, their new associates 
in peace. In arts and arms the emigrants soon acquired the 
ascendency, and the most musical of all the Greek dialects became 
the prevailing language of the colony. 

MEDITERRANEAN. 

The Mediterranean Sea is thus denominated, because it flows 
between Europe and Africa, washing the shores of each. Medi , 
signifying between, and terra , earth, i. e., between two continents; 
the latter syllables, ne-an being merely added for the sake of 
harmony. 

MAIDSTONE. 

Maidstone was anciently called Medway-town, from its being 
seated on the river of that name. Nennius, who wrote about the 
ninth century, calls it Oaer Megwad, corruptly, as is supposed, 
for Medway, or the Medway city, and states, that it was the 
third considerable city in Britain before the arrival of the Saxons; 
and it appears from Domesday Book to have been a borough by 
prescription, although it did not send representatives to parlia¬ 
ment till the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it received a charter 
of incorporation to be governed by a mayor, assisted by twelve 
of the principal inhabitants. 

MIDDLESEX. 

The Saxons under Ella, on their arrival in this country, had 
continual wars with the Britons, the particulars whereof are un¬ 
known, except that they settled on the sea-coast in Sussex, and 
were called the South Saxons, from whence Sussex was derived. 
Those that were settled on the east coasts were called East 
Saxons, from whence came Essex. The country between Essex 
and Sussex was hence termed Middlesex. Kent retained its an¬ 
cient name. 


NORTHUMBERLAND.' . 

Most of our readers are acquainted with the great divisions 
of this kingdom in ancient times, and will recollect those which 
were established north and south of the Humber, under which 
a large proportion of Yorkshire, and the whole of Cumberland, 
Westmoreland, and Northumberland, belonged to Edwin, king 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


343 


of Northumbria. In this country there are several remains of 
Roman encampments. The most remarkable monument of the 
Roman dominion is, the great line of defence formed and aug¬ 
mented by the successive labours of Agricola, Adrian, and 
Severus; and sometimes called the Piets Wall, sometimes the Ro¬ 
man Wall. 

OXFORD. 

This famous University town derives its name from its being 
anciently a great cattle or oxen ford; having to pass the river 
at this point on the way to the London markets. Henry II., whose 
famed amour with “ Rosamond of Woodstock” gave a celebrity to 
this part of the country, built a bridge over the same ford—now 
called Oxford. 

OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 

So called from Othman,the first of the Turkish emperors. The 
present Turkish empire began in Bithynia, in 1298. 

PERSIA. 

By the poets, this country is supposed to have derived its appel¬ 
lation from Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Danae; and by the 
graver, but perhaps, on this occasion, equally unsuccessful inqui¬ 
rers, from the word paras , which signifies a horseman, the Persians 
or Parthians having been always celebrated for their extraordinary 
skill in horsemanship. 

PERE LA CHAISE. 

This far-famed burial-ground, which is the first in Europe, 
from its size, its picturesque situation, and its fine monuments, 
derives its name from Father Lachaise, confessor to Louis XIV., 
from its occupying the site on which stood Lachaise’s house. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania was originally settled by the Swedes in 1627, was 
conquered by the Dutch in 1654, and was ceded to the British in 
1664. It was granted to William Penn, a quaker, from whom it 
derives its name, and, after his death, was sold by the proprietors 
to the United States. 

PETERSBURGH. 

This modern capital of Russia derives its name from its royal 
founder, Peter the Great. It is built in the Gulf of Cronstadt, 
intersected by artificial channels of the Neva, which limit the dis¬ 
tricts of the city. This magnificent capital was in 1702 a putrid 

fen. 


344 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


PRUSSIA. 

Prussia was anciently possessed by the Venedi, whose kings 
were anciently descended from Athirius, first king of the Heruli 
on the Baltic, 320 b. c. The Venedi were conquered by the 
Borussi, who inhabited the Riphcean Mountains. Hence the 
country was called Bo-Russia, or Prussia. It consists of two great 
divisions: the eastern, or larger portion; and the western, or 
smaller portion. 


PEERLESS POOL. 

Peerless Pool, City Road, was anciently a public conduit, which 
supplied the metropolis with water, before the New River was 
brought to London by Sir Hugh Myddleton. Stow speaks of it 
as “acleere water, called Perilous Pond, because,” says our chro¬ 
nicler, “ divers youths, by swimming therein, have been drowned.” 
Again he says, “ Upon Saturday the 19th of January, 1633, sixe 
pretty young lads, going to sport themselves upon the frozen 
ducking-pond, neere to Clearkenwell, the ice too weake to sup¬ 
port them, fell into the water, concluding their pastime with the 
lamentable losse of their lives ; to the great griefe of many that 
saw them dying, many more that afterwards saw them dead, with 
the inexpressible griefe of their parents.” This water was after¬ 
wards filled up, and rendered entirely useless, till one Kemp, an 
eminent jeweller of the city of London, who had a high opinion 
of this water, having got clear of a violent pain in the head by 
bathing in it, to which he had for many years been subject, gene¬ 
rously reopened the same spring for the public benefit in the year 
1743, and formed the completest swimming-bath in the whole world; 
and in reference to the improvements he had made on the ruins 
of that once Perilous Pond, and by a very natural transition, he 
changed that disagreeable appellation of perilous, “ that is,” says 
Maitland, “ dangerous or hazardous, to the more agreeable name 
of Peerless Pool, that is, Matchless Bath, a name which carries 
its own reason with it.” 

PALATINATE OF DURHAM. 

Guthred being seated on the throne of Northumberland, under 
the auspices of Alfred, the sovereigns, as a joint act, granted, 
that wherever St. Cutlibert’s remains should rest, there should 
be an inviolable sanctuary ; and that the possessions of St. Cutb- 
bert and his church, as well such as were at that time, or 
theretofore granted, as those which might thereafter be acquired 
by purchase or otherwise, should be for ever freed and discharged 
from all customs and services, and should be held and enjoyed by 
the church , with all such sovereign jurisdiction and \power as the 


I 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


345 


demesne of the crown was held; and this was confirmed by the 
acclamations of the assenting people, assembled on this solemn 
occasion, and became an ordinance established for ever. This 
was the origin of the “Jura regalia,” which dignifies the “ Palatine 
of Durham.” Durham is derived from Dun-holm, i. e., a town 
in a -wood. 

PACIFIC OCEAN. 

* 

Otherwise called the South Sea, lying between Asia and 
America, and upwards of 10,000 miles in breadth. When Ma- 
galhaens entered this ocean, through the dangerous strait that 
bears his name, he sailed three months and twenty days in a 
uniform direction to the N.W. without discovering land, and 
enjoyed such uninterrupted fair weather, with fair winds, that 
he gave the ocean the name of Pacific. 

POLAND. 

The name Poland is said to be derived from the Sclavonian 
word Pole, which signifies plain and even, as is the face of this 
country. Some derive it from Polachi, which signifies the pos¬ 
terity of Lechus, who is held to be the founder of this monarchy. 
But it is very doubtful, as the history of Poland previous to 
the introduction of Christianity is involved in great obscurity. 

PALESTINE. 

It was called Palestine from the Philistines, who inhabited 
the sea-coasts. It was also called Judea, from Juda; and the 
Holy Land, from our Saviour’s residence and sufferings ; and it 
is called Canaan and the Promised Land, in the Scriptures. It 
is 180 miles in length, and 80 in breadth ; and in the time of 
Solomon it seems to have extended from the Mediterranean Sea 
to the river Euphrates. As a part of Asiatic Turkey, it is 
bounded by Mount Lebanus, which divides it from Syria on the 
north; by Mount Herman, which separates it from Arabia de 
Serta, on the east; by the mountains of Seir, and the deserts of 
Arabia Petrsea, on the south ; and by the Mediterranean Sea, on 
the west. 

RECULVERS. 

These ruins, viewed with such peculiar interest by those who 
visit the isle of Thanet, and which are a well-known water-mark 
to mariners, was called by the Romans, Regulbium ; by the 
Saxons, first Raculf, afterwards Raculfcester, on account of its 
castle, and then Raculfminster, from the monastery afterwards 
built there. In the time of the Romans it had a watch-tower 
and fort, said to be built by Severus, anno 205 ; in which, as the 





346 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


“ Notitia” tells us, u lay in garrison tlie first cohort of the Veta- 
sians.” Its two spires, commonly called “ the Sisters” (from the 
romantic notion of their being built by relatives, who went from 
thence on a pilgrimage and returned in safety), are of great utility 
as a landmark, and from the pier of Margate and the neigh¬ 
bouring cliffs may be viewed distinctly. For a full and interest¬ 
ing account of Reculver, see Mr. G. R. Smith’s Antiquities of 
Richborough, Reculver , and Lymne. 

RIEVAULX ABBEY, YORKSHIRE. 

% 

Rievaulx Abbey, as it is termed, is the most superb ruin in 
England. It is on the estate of Charles Slingsby Duncombe, Esq., 
of Duncombe Park. In the vicinity also, is a Roman Catholic 
College. If ever, reader, you sojourn at the ancient city of York, 
forget not to visit Duncombe Park and Rievaulx Abbey. A plea¬ 
sant ride of fifteen miles will bring you to this secorgd Elysium, 
where your curiosity will be amply repaid. The following notice 
is taken of it, by a spirited little work of the present day. “ In 
the reign of Henry I. flourished St. Bernard, abbot of Clairval, 
a man full of devotion, and chief of many monks, some of whom 
he sent to England about a.d. 1128, 28th of Henry I., who were 
honourably received by both king and kingdom, and particularly 
by Sir Walter L’Espec; who, about a.d. 1131, allotted to some of 
them a solitary place in Blackmore, near Hemelac, now Helmsley,* 
surrounded by steep hills, and covered with wood and ling, near 
the angles of three different vales, with each a rivulet running 
through them; that passing by where the abbey was built being 
called Rie, whence this vale took its name, and this religious 
house was thence called the abbey of Rie-val or Rie-vale.f The 
descent of this valley reaches chiefly from north to south. Here 
William, the first abbot (one of these monks sent by Bernard), a 
man full of great virtue, and of an excellent memory, began the 
building of the monastery, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, 
which the said Sir Walter L’Espec amply endowed.” Again, 

“ the site was granted, in exchange for other lands, to Thomas 
Earl of Rutland, in 30th of Henry VIII.; and from him it de¬ 
scended to the dissolute George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham; 
and from him, by purchase, to Sir Charles Duncombe, knight, 
from whom it passed to his grand-nephew, Thomas Duncombe, 
Esq. M.P., who, in 1758, erected one of the finest terraces in Eng- ; 
land on the brink of the hill that overlooks the ruin, and°a 
temple at each end of the walk; one of which is enriched with 
mythological paintings by Bernice, an Italian artist. The view 
from the woody steep of these Ionic temples surpasses all concep¬ 
tion ; ‘ suffice it,’ to quote the words of a descriptive author on the 

* Now vulgarly called “ Helmsley Blackamoor.” 

f Now corrupted to Rieeaulx, 












THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


347 


subject, who says, £ to be believed, it must be seen; and, once 
seen, can never be forgotten.’ ” 

RED SEA. 

So called, not from any redness of either water or weeds, &c., 
but because anciently styled the Sea of Edom (as being partly on 
the coast of Edom). The Greeks, knowing that Edom signified, 
red, by mistake called it the Erythrean, or Eed Sea. 

RICHMOND. 

The ancient name for Richmond, or Rich Mound, was Sheen, 
which signifies splendour; but when Henry VII. rebuilt the 
royal palace, he called it Richmond, from his having borne the 
title of Earl of Richmond before his accession. The choice of a 
walk in a place like Richmond, where all is beauty, is rather 
perplexing, the more so to him who pays his first visit. We are 
invariably at a loss to know, out of the vast number of paths, 
which to adopt:— 

“ ---Say, shall we wind 

Among the streams? or walk the smiling mead? 

Or court the forest glades? or wander wild, 

Among the way of harvests? or ascend 

Thy hili, delightful Shene?” * 

RAPE OF BRAMBER. 

The Saxon division of the county of Sussex into Rapes, which 
in the singular number is Saxon for district, or barony, and which 
term is peculiar to Sussex, was strictly adhered to at the Con¬ 
quest. To each was annexed a castle, with large demesnes. 
There are six Rapes, with their separate baronies, as originally 
granted. Chichester and Arundel were held jointly by Mont¬ 
gomerie and De Albine, in succession, till the extinction of the 
last-mentioned family, when the barony was held to have ceased 
by reason of partition.—The Rape of Bramber was given to Wil¬ 
liam de Bariose ; Lewes, to William de Warren; Hastings, to 
Robert de Owe; and Pevensey, to the Earl of Mortem. 


ROME. 

Romulus commenced the foundations of Rome, 753 b.c. His 
brother Remus was slain by him, or his workmen, for having 
ridiculed the slenderness of the walls. Thus raised in blood, they 
became the sanctuary of refugees and criminals, and to increase 
the population, neighbouring females (the Sabine women) were 
forcibly dragged within its boundaries. Such was the origin of 
the once mighty city of Rome, which derives its name from its 



348 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


founder, and it was governed by a succession of kings to the year 
510 b.c. 

OLD SARUM. 

Few places have exercised the ingenuity of etymologists more 
than this. Old Baxter will have it to be a corruption ol the 
British Sar-Avon, that is, angry or violent river, which ran at the 
base of the hill on which is placed Old Sarum, and flows through 
the streets of the new. Johannes Sarisburiensis calls it Severia, 
from the emperor Severus; but the Roman name of Sorbiodunum 
is much nearer the mark, being an almost literal translation of 
its original British appellation, Caer Sarfiog , the fortified place 
abounding with the Service Tree. Now, iSorbus is Service Tree 
in Latin, and dunum is a common Latin termination for places 
which have the adjunct dun , or caer, in the British; so that it 
was impossible to Latinize the word with less violence to the 
original. 

STONEHENGE. 

These venerable and ancient piles have been the subjects of 
much unprofitable speculation. A curious old work, entitled 
Campion’s Historic of Irland , has the following : “ In the plain 
of Kildare stood that monstrous heap of stones, brought thither 
by gyants from Afrique, and removed thence to the plain of 
Salisbury, at the instance of Aurelius Ambrose, king of Britain!” 
It is, however, the general opinion of antiquaries, that it was an an¬ 
cient temple of the Druids, or at any rate, that it was employed by 
them for the celebration of some of their mysteries. In the year 
1797, three of the stones which formed part of the oval in the 
centre fell to the earth, and this appears to have been the only 
instance on record of any alteration having taken place in these 
remains of antiquity. Such, indeed, is the general fascination 
imposed on all those who view this mysterious monument of 
antiquity, that no one can quit its precincts without feeling 
strong sensations of surprise and admiration. The rustic, with a 
vacant stare, will attribute it to some imaginary race of giants, 
and the antiquary, equally uninformed as to its origin, will 
regret that its history is veiled in perpetual obscurity ; even the 
most indifferent passenger over the plain of Salisbury, must be 
attracted by the solitary and magnificent appearance of these 
ruins ; and all with one accord will exclaim, “ How grand ! 
how wonderful ! how incomprehensible !” Stukeley, Webb, 
and others, state, that the said pile of stones were originallv 
Druidical altars, on which the Druids made their periodical 
sacrifices to their deities ! Jeffrey of Monmouth ascribes the 
erection of it to Merlin, who, as he lived in the time of Aurelius— 
Ambrosius—in Welsh, Emrys —is called Merddin Emrys, to com¬ 
memorate the Saxon treachery, in the massacre of the British 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


349 


nobles there assembled to meet Hengist (and the true Saxon 
mime is Stonhengist). 

ST. CLOUD. 

St. Cloud, the country residence of the French monarchs, owes 
its foundation to Clodoald, grandson of Clovis, who built a mon¬ 
astery here, a.d. 351. It has been called by the continental 
lawyers a ducal peerage, and was attached to the archbishopric 
of Paris, the incumbent of which from that application attained 
the rank of duke of St. Cloud, and peer of France. 

SEVEN OAKS. 

Seven Oaks received its name from seven tall oaks which for¬ 
merly grew on the spot where the town is built. In the reign of 
Henry V., one Sir John Sevenoak, lord mayor of London, and 
once a poor foundling, brought up by the benevolence of the 
people, and named of course after the place in which he was found, 
a custom generally adopted by the parish officers, built an hospital 
here for the support of aged persons, and a free school for the 
education of the youth of the town, in gratitude for the charity 
he had himself received formerly from the inhabitants. His 
school was further endowed by Queen Elizabeth. This town is 
also remarkable for the defeat of Jack Cade and his followers, by 
Sir Humphry Stafford, whom Henry YI. sent against them. 

SOT’S HOLE. 

The great Lord Chesterfield formerly resided at the house, 
afterwards occupied by the late Princess Sophia of Gloucester, at 
Blackheath. His servants were accustomed to use an alehouse 
in the vicinity too frequently. On one occasion he said to his 
butler, “ Fetch the fellows from that Sot’s hole! ” which circum¬ 
stance gave a name to the house known by that sign. 

SEVERNDROOG CASTLE. 

This building, on the right of Shooter’s Hill, and which is so 
prominent an object, was built by Lady James, in commemora¬ 
tion of the storming and capture of Severndroog, in the East 
Indies, by Commodore James, her husband, on the 2nd of April, 
1755. This place is well known to cockneys, as “Lady James’s 
Folly.” 

SHOOTER’S HILL. 

This spot, so well known to Londoners, is so denominated from 
the London archers, who shot here, and particularly on May Day. 
An old chronicler relates, that “ Henry the Eighth, in the third 


350 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of his reigne, and divers other yeeres, so namely in the seventh 
of his reigne, on May Day in the morning, with queen Katherine, 
his wife, accompanied with many lords and ladies, rode a Maying 
from Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter’s Hill: where, as 
they passed by the way, they espyed a company of tall yeomen, 
clothed all in greene, with greene hoods, and with bowes and 
arrowes, to the number of 200. One, being their chieftaine, was 
called Robin Hood, who required the king and all his company 
to stay and see his men shoot: whereunto, the king granting, 
Robin Hood whistled, and all the 200 archers shot off, loosing all 
at once ; and when he whistled againe, they likewise shot againe : 
their arrowes whistled by craft of the head, so that the noise was 
strange and loud, which greatly delighted the king, queene, and 
their company.” 

SADLER’S WELLS. 

Sadler’s Wells, so called from there being within the premises 
two wells of a chalybeate water, and from having been discovered 
by a man named Sadler, in 1683 ; originally (i. e., the ground on 
which it stands) belonged to the monastery of St. John’s, Clerken- 
well, but to what purpose it was then appropriated we do not 
know. In process of time the wells were opened to the public, 
as the Tunbridge Spa, Islington, St. Chad’s Well, Gray’s Inn 
Lane, &c., are now, and numbers resorted there to drink the 
waters. In the time of Oliver Cromwell, they continued to be 
visited by invalids, but were prohibited, among others, by the 
then hypocritical rulers of the land as objects of superstitious 
notice. During the reign of Charles II., Sadler took the ground, 
and whatever buildings might be upon it, and opened a place of 
public recreation and entertainment, called “ Sadler’s Wells’ 
Music-House,” and lie reopened the two wells. The latter are 
still on the premises ; one in the yard, arched over; the other in 
the cellar of the theatre. The water is now done away with, 
and the theatre has for many years maintained a well-deserved 
celebrity for the performance of the plays of Shakspeare, Beau¬ 
mont and Fletcher, &c. 


SOUTHWARK. 

So denominated, from a fortification, or work, which anciently 
stood here, and from its situation being southerly, was called 
Suthwark, or South-work. 

SCLAYONIA. 

A province, subject to the House of Austria, and bounded on 
the north-east by the rivers Drave and Danube, which separate 
it from Hungary, being about two hundred miles long, and sixty 
broad. It takes its name from the Sclavi, an ancient people of 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


351 


European Scythia; from whom is likewise derived the Sclavonic 
language, which is said to be the most extensive language in the 
world except the Arabic, as being the common mother of the 
Russian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian, Corinthian, Bohemian, 
&c., languages. 

STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. 

The Straits of Magellan derive their title from one Magalhaens, 
who was in the service of Spain, and who discovered them in 
the first voyage round the world; he was killed by the savages 
in the Marianne Islands. These straits were discovered in 1520, 
and are the most extensive known on the surface of the globe. 

STEYNE AT BRIGHTON. 

It has been stated that this celebrated promenade derives its 
name from the Roman way, called Stane Street; but this sup¬ 
position is the conjecture of fancy, for we find in the ad decimun 
of Richard of Cirencester, in his 15th Iter, that the Roman west¬ 
ern road, called Stane Street, commenced at the east gate of 
Chichester, and taking a northern direction, pursued its course 
to Bignor Hill, within a few furlongs of the Roman pavements of 
a villa discovered in 1811. After passing Bignor, the direction 
it took was through Hardham to Pulborough. It has been fur¬ 
ther traced to Woodcote, to Dorking churchyard, and to London, 
w here it is now distinguished by the name of West Ermine Street; 
it is therefore impossible to attribute its name to this Roman 
road. The fact is, before the late inroads of the sea, the Steyne 
was skirted or edged on that side by chalk rocks, and from that 
circumstance received its name. Stein, or Steen, a rock, in the 
imported language of the Flemish emigrants, w r as then a proper 
denomination for this verdant margin of a chalky cliff. How it 
came to be called Steyne must be attributed to fashion. 

TUNBRIDGE. 

Tunbridge, or, as it is frequently called, Tunbridge Towm, to 
distinguish it from the well-known watering-place in the same 
county, is situated in the south-western part of Kent, on the 
banks of the Medway, and derives its name from the number of 
bridges over the river, which here separates itself into five streams. 
The district round this town is called the “ Lowy of Tunbridge,” 
which, in Domesday Book, is mentioned as Lenna Ricardi de 
Tonbriga; and in old Latin deeds is called Districtus Leucce de 
Tonbridge. The reason why it is so named is this: Richard 
Clare, a descendant of the natural son of Richard, the first Duke 
of Normandy, who came over to England with William the Con¬ 
queror, and distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings, 


352 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


obtained the manor of Tunbridge from Lanfranc, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, in exchange for the castle of Brion in Normandy, 
each estate being measured with the same line. At that time, it 
was the custom in Normandy to term the district round an 
abbey, castle, or chief mansion, Leuca , or Leucata, in English, 
the Lowy, in which the possessor had generally a grant of several 
peculiar liberties, privileges, and exemptions ; and Gilbert pro¬ 
cured from the king similar grants to those he enjoyed in Nor¬ 
mandy, to this, as well as to his adjoining manor of Hadlow, 
whence he called it the “ Lowy of Tunbridge,” by which name it 
has gone ever since. Tunbridge Castle was built by this Bichard 
de Clare in the reign of William Bufus. 

TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 

Tunbridge Wells is said to be the oldest watering-place in 
England, Bath excepted. The wells are about five miles south 
of the town, and are situated in a sandy bottom, at the foot of 
three hills, called Mount Ephraim, Mount Sion, and Mount 
Pleasant. The air is particularly salubrious, which, with the well- 
known virtues of the wells, and their vicinity to town, being only 
thirty-six miles distant, makes them much frequented. The dis¬ 
covery of the medicinal waters at Tunbridge Wells, in the year 
1606, is generally attributed to young Dudley, Lord North, who, 
having injured his health by bis dissipations at the court of Henry, 
Prince of Wales, son of James I., by the advice of his physicians 
took up his abode within two miles of the wells, at a place called 
Eridge House. After a residence of several weeks, finding his 
disorder rather increased than diminished, and his spirits greatly 
lowered, he abruptly quitted this retired mansion, and began his 
journey to London. Fortunately, adds the narrator, his road lay 
directly through the wood in which these useful springs were 
concealed from the knowledge of mankind; so that, when his 
lordship came upon the spot, he could not pass by without taking 
notice of a water which seemed to claim his attention, on account 
of the shining mineral scum that swam on its surface, as well as 
the ochrous substance which subsided at the bottom. These 
uncommon appearances induced him to alight from his carriage, 
and to order one of his servants to borrow a little vessel from a 
neighbouring hovel, that he might taste it. The ferruginous 
flavour induced his lordship to think it was embued with some 
medicinal properties, which might be beneficial to mankind. 
Having submitted it therefore to chemical analysis, he determined 
to try its restorative powers upon himself; and after about two 
months’ continuance at Eridge, returned to town so perfectly free 
from all complaints, that he lived in the indulgence of every courtly 
enjoyment till he attained the age of eighty-five. Henrietta 
Maria, queen of Charles I., was sent here after the birth of her 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


353 


first child, and, on account of the then uninhabited state of that 
part of the country, lived for six weeks in tents on Bishops-down 
Common. 

TARPEIAN ROCK. 

The Tarpeian Rock, off the coast of Sicily, derives its name 
from the following: Tarpeia, according to Heathen Mythology, 
was a vestal virgin, who agreed with the Albans to deliver up 
the capitol for their bracelets; but they being entered, threw 
their shields upon her, and buried her under them. Hence is 
derived the name Tarpeian Rock. 

VIRGINIA. 

On the discovery of this portion of North America by Sir 
Walter Raleigh, in 1584, he called it Virginia, in compliment to 
his virgin mistress, queen Elizabeth. i 

»i* 

VENICE. 

The first inhabitants of this country were the Veneti; from 
whence the term Venice is derived. They were conquered by 
the Gauls, and made a kingdom about 356. The islands on which 
the city stands began to be inhabited by Italians about 421; the 
first house erected on the morass was by Entinopus, who fled 
from the Goths; the people of Padua took refuge there also, and 
were assisted by Entinopus in building the eighty houses which 
formed the first city, in 413. They were first governed by a doge 
in 697, but its republic was not independent till 803. The con¬ 
spiracy on which Otway’s play is founded, was in 1618. The 
doge omitted the ceremony of wedding the Adriatic Sea from 
1173. 

WEALD OF KENT. 

The Weald of Kent comprises a large district, containing 
several market towns, viz., Cranbrook, Smarden, Tenterden, 
Biddenden, &c. It is so called from the growth of large timber, 
oak particularly; weald being a Saxon term, signifying a woody 
district. 

WOODSTOCK. 

The ancient manor-house, or royal palace of Woodstock, was 
situate near the old town of that name, about eight miles from 
the city of Oxford, on the north bank of the valley, through which 
the little river Glyme has its course. It was erected (according 
to Camden) by Henry I., who joined to it a large park, enclosed 
with a stone wall, which Rous affirms to have been the first park 
in England, and which, says Dr. Plott, was not only stocked with 






354 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


deer, but with all kinds of foreign wild beasts, which he procured 
abroad of other princes. Woodstock, however, seems to have 
been a royal seat in the time of the Saxons, and was formerly 
called, Locus Sylvestris; it also appears, from a MS. in the Cotto¬ 
nian library, that King Alfred translated Boetius there. In the 
reign of Etheldred an assembly of the states was held at Wood- 
stock, and several laws enacted. 

The most remarkable event connected with the mansion itself, 
and from which it received its principal interest, was, its being 
the residence of the celebrated Rosamond Clifford, the favourite 
mistress of Henry II. She was buried in the chapel of the 
nunnery, at Godstow, with this curious inscription on her tomb: 

“ Hie jacet in tumba, Rosamundi, non Rosa munda: 

Non redolet sed olet, quae redolere solet.” 

Of which various translations have been made by different 
authors; we shall, however, select that given by Stow : 

" The rose of the worlde, but not the cleane flowre, 

Is now here graven; to whom beauty was lent: 

In this grave full darke now is her boure, 

That by her life was sweet and redolent. 

But now that she is from this life blent, 

Though she were sweete, now foully doth she stinke. 

A mirrour good for all men, that on her tliinke.” 

In the fourth year of the reign of Queen Anne, the honour and 
estates of Woodstock were bestowed by the queen on John Duke 
of Marlborough, for the signal victory obtained by him at 
Blenheim, in Germany; at which time the old palace of Wood- 
stock was razed to the ground, and the magnificent mansion of 
Blenheim erected in its stead. 

WESTMINSTER. 

So denominated to distinguish it from East Minster, which 
formerly stood on Tower Hill. When Henry VIII. took posses¬ 
sion of York Palace, he left the new palace of Westminster; the 
former had been finished and fitted up in great magnificence by 
Cardinal Wolsey, on whose death Henry made it his residence. To 
reconcile, however, the good people of Westminster to his leaving 
them, he made it a city by act of parliament: he also built the coc£ 
pit and the tennis-court; cock-fighting only being used in England 
at that period, but tennis was a diversion introduced from France 
about the time of Henry V. To beautify this palace of Whitehall 
(to which he now changed its name) still more, he built the gate¬ 
way next the Banqueting House, to have the convenience of a 
gallery into the park, to see the sports of tilts and tournaments, 
which were performed on solemn days, for the accommodation of 
the ladies. The only remaining portions of the old palace are 
Westminster Hall and St. Stephen’s crypt. In the early part of 











THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


355 


the Inst century the hall was a grand promenade, consisting of 
booksellers’ shops, &c. Hence Pepys, in his Diary , 20th January 
1659-60, says, “at Westminster Hall, where Mrs. Lane and the 
rest of the maids had their white scarfs, all having been at the 
burial of a } 7 oung bookseller in the Hall.” 

YORK. 

Next to the city of London, in antiquity (and at one period 
in importance), stands the city of York. It was founded by the 
Homans, as a barrier against the incursions of the northern 
hordes. The emperor Septimus Severus made it his place of 
residence while in England, and both he and Constantius Chlorus 
died there. It was originally called Eboracum; afterwards ab¬ 
breviated to Ebor, which signifies a fortified town, station, or city. 
The archbishop, who is almoner to the king, signs “ Edward 
Ebor.” York, as it is now called, is famed as the birthplace of 
Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, and the 
founder of the eastern empire. Many important battles have 
been fought in its vicinity, and the Romans have left lasting 
mementoes of one, called Severus’s wall. The battle of Towton, 
during the wars of York and Lancaster, was fought within a 
few miles of it, as well as that of Marston Moor, where the par¬ 
liamentary forces under Fairfax, beat the royalists under 
Charles the First. York was the rallying post of the royalists 
during the troubles of that period, and the unhappy monarch 
and his family resided here for some time. In the reigns of 
Henry II., Richard I., and John, several bloody massacres of the 
Jews took place within its walls, one of which was marked by a 
peculiar circumstance. Those that escaped the immediate rage 
of the citizens fled to the castle, and sooner than surrender, 
when called upon so to do, destroyed one another. Flow reversed 
is the situation and treatment of the Jews of the present day! 

The castle is now a modern building (with the exception of a 
tower called Clifford’s Tower), and is the county prison. The 
cathedra], or minster, is the largest and most magnificent in 
Europe, and comprises the five orders of architecture. At some 
little distance from it stands the ruins of a monastery, called 
St. Mary’s, and which formerly had a communication under¬ 
ground with the cathedral. 

There are four principal gates, or bars, to this ancient town ; 
the ancient walls of the city are still nearly entire, and there is a 
public walk on the top of them. It is governed by a corporation, 
comprising a lord mayor, twelve aldermen, and common council; 
each ward (four) returning twenty-four. Although precluded 
by its corporate rights from being a commercial town, it never¬ 
theless possesses many requisites for constituting it such; among 
others, its two rivers, the Ouse and the Foss, which flow through 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


,356 

the city. The immortal General Wolfe was also born in 
Tanner Row, in this ancient city. 

THE ZUIDER SEA. 

The Zuider Sea, or, as the Dutch have it, the Zuider Zee, was 
at one period a large tract of grazing land, belonging to an eminent 
grazier of the name of Zuider, who on one occasion, when 
walking over his pastures, discovered in a ditch a herring! This 
omen made such an impression on his mind, that he hastened 
home, and disposed of the whole of his landed property in that 
district. His judgment was correct, as the result proved; for, 
within six months, the whole of the land, with a large tract 
adjacent to it, became an immense sheet of water, and has re¬ 
mained so to this day, well known under the appellation of the 
Zuider Sea, or Zuider Zee. 

BARROWS, OR CAIRNS. 

Dr. Armstrong’s Gaelic Dictionary states, that Barrows, or 
Cairns, are very numerous in the Highlands of Scotland, in Ire¬ 
land, and in Wales; they are likewise to be seen in Sweden, in 
Norway, and in other parts of the continent, as also in America. 
They were intended for monuments; and the probability is, that 
they were used as such from the earliest ages, by every people 
who could associate their ideas of duration with the properties of 
stone and rock. Cairns often measure 300 feet in circumference 
at the base, and twenty feet in height; they consist of stone, and 
the whole pile is shaped like a cone. Several opinions have been 
formed concerning the intention of them. In many instances 
they have been explored, and found to contain sepulchral urns; a 
circumstance which seems to be decisive in favour of the opinion, 
that they are monuments of the dead. Many of these piles 
consist wholly of earth ; and this gave rise to an opinion, that the 
coped heaps of stone were intended for malefactors, and those of 
earth for the virtuous and the brave. The doctor continues, I 
never could ascertain to what extent this distinction was 
observed. From ancient authors we learn that malefactors were 
buried under heaps of stone ; and we know that it was a common 
practice among the Druids to erect Cairns on the spot where a 
criminal had been burnt. Hence, a “man beneath a Cairn,” 
means in Gaelic an “ outlaw.” “I’d rather be under a Cairn,” 
means, “ I’d rather be punished as an outlaw.” Though the 
ceremony of Cairn-raising is still prevalent in the Highlands, the 
meaning of it is changed; lor, on whatever spot a person is found 
dead, a few stones are immediately huddled together, and every 
passenger pays his tribute of a stone; the larger it is, the 
greater the respect shown to the deceased. Hence a saying 
among the Gael, which, translated, is, “I will add to thy Cairn,” 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


357 '. 


[ betokens a friendly intention, and means, “ I will keep the re¬ 
membrance of thee alive.” The ghost of the departed was 
supposed to haunt his Cairn; and few Highlanders would choose 
to pass it for the first time without adding to the heap, and thus 
keep on good terms with the spectre. This subject, which has of 
J hate received great attention, is admirably treated of in The 
Primaeval Antiquities of Denmark, by J. J. A. Worsae; trans¬ 
lated and applied to the illustration of similar remains in 
| England, by William J. Thoms. 

t 


NAMES OF A FEW PLACES AND PERSONS. 

Ah, in the beginning of the names of places, is generally a con¬ 
traction of abbot , and denotes a monastery to have been formerly 
there, or else that it belonged to some abbey ; as Abington, q. d., 
Abbey Town. 

Aber, in Cornish, means a confluence of rivers; also a gulf, a 
’ whirlpool. Aber, in a deflected sense, has been applied to a har- 
• bour; hence, Havre de Grace. 

1 ' Ac, Ak. These initial syllables take their origin from the 

■ Saxon word ac, which signifies an oak; thus Acton is Oak-town, 
or a town environed with oaks. 

Ad, Adel, signifies noble, famous, as Adelstan for iEthelstan, 1 
f the termination stan being anciently a mark of the superlative 
! degree; and it is worthy of remark here, that instead of our 
1 modern word gentleman, nobleman , &c., our ancestors used the 
1 word A eclleman. 

Al, Aid, signifies old or ancient, as Aldborough , i. e., Old Borough; 

■ Aldgate, Old Gate, &c. Though many names have the initial al, 
from the Saxon cel, as Albert, Allbright; Alfred, All-peace, &c. 

All or hal comes from the Saxon hall or palace , and hence it 
became a common termination, as White-hall, Moor-hall, &c. 

Bald signifies Bold, as Baldred, Baldwin, &c. Berth, brave, as 
Bertha. Brad comes from the Saxon broad; thus, Bradford is 
Broadford originally. 

Bourn or Burn, is from the Saxon, signifying a river, hence 
several towns are simply called Bourne, which stand near a 
rivulet or stream. Others have it in their composition, as Wim- 
bourne, &c. 

Brig, Brice , from the Saxon, a bridge, as Stockbridge, Brixton, 
&c. 

Burgh comes from the Saxon, a city, town , or castle; originally 
from the Gothic bairg, a rock, or mountain; for anciently most 
cities were built on rocky hills, and afterwards in vales, for the 
conveniency of water. Petersburgh, a town dedicated to St. 
Peter, is frequently written borough , and oftentimes bury, as Salis¬ 
bury, Edmondsbury, &c. 

I 









358 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


Bye, Bee, are terminations from the Saxon, an habitation; 
thus Kettleby, i. e., a town where kettle-makers lived. So Derby, 
Appleby, &c. 

Car, is derived from caer, a city, as Carlisle, Cardiff, &c. 

Chester and Caster, signify a city or camp; hence Chichester 
was the town or city of Sissa, who built it. 

Cheap , Chip, Chipping, all come from the Saxon to buy , and 
they denote market-towns; as Chippenham, Chipping Nor¬ 
ton, (&C. 

Cliff, Clive, come from the Saxon, a rock, or steep place; hence 
Radcliffe, Redcliff, or Red Rock; so Whitecliff, for White Rock; 
Cleveland, for Rocky Land, &c. Still cliffs and rocks with us 
are synonymous terms. Comb at the end, and comp in the be¬ 
ginning of words, indicate the low situation of the place, from the 
Saxon comb, which signifies a valley. Hence those places called 
Compton, i. e., Yaletown, and those which end in comb, as Wy- 
comb, Winchcomb, &c. 

Cot, Cote, a house, denotes a hut or cottage, or a village of such 
little houses to have been in the places bearing this syllable, as 
Coteswold, &c. 

Croft, signifies a little plot of ground, which we call a close; 
hence sundry names, as Bancroft, Bearcroft, &c. 

Cuth, known or famed, is found in several Saxon names, as 
Cuthbert, &c. 

Bale, a little valley, is used in several names, as Greendale, 
Golborne-dale, Dibdale, for Deepdale. 

Ben, Bean , are from the Saxon, signifying both a vale and any 
woody place ; hence Tenterden, Morden, &c. 

Bun, Bon, a mountain or ridge of hills, from whence our name 
for them, Downs; hence ILeydon, Swindon, Dunstable, &c. 

Ea,ee,ey, from the Saxon Ea, water; as Eaton, Water-town, 
Anglesey, Jersey, &c. 

Ed, is from the Saxon, blessed, happy, as Ed-mund, &c. 

Ethel, noble, as in Ethelbert, &c. 

Ford, a shallow stream or rividet, as Bradford, Guilford, Ox¬ 
ford, &c. 

Fred, peace, hence Frederic is literally rich in peace. 

Gate, a way or passage, as Highgate, a highway or road; and 
grave in Saxon, implies a grove, and sometimes a cave, as Nor- 
grave, Waldgrave, &c. 

Earn, a house, farm, or village, as Hamton, Wareham, &c. From 
this word comes our English word home, also Hamlet. 

Holm comes from the Saxon Holm, a place surrounded by 
water, or a little island; hence we find several such places called 
the Holmes. 

Hurst , from the Saxon, a wood or forest, as Midhurst, Sand¬ 
hurst, &c. 

Lade, in Saxon, signifies to unload or purge. It generally sig- 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


359 




nifies the mouth of a river, either where it empties itself into the 
sea, or some greater river, as at Cricklade, Leeclilade, &c. 

•' Marsh , from the Saxon, signifying fenny, watery , hence Marsh¬ 
field, Saltmarsh, &c. ; also Mere , a lake or 'pond, is found in many 
names of places, as Haslemere. 

Rig, Ridge , seem to be derived from the Saxon, signifying the 
hack; hence our phrase, a ridge of hills , and this is denoted in 
the names where it is found, as Lindridge, Eldridge, &c. 

Sel, signifies good, large, or spacious, which it denotes in various 
names, as Selby, Selwood, i.e., a great wood. 

Stead or Sted, signifies a place, and is in many names, Grimstead, 
Hampstead, &c. 

Stan, a stone , and hence the names of many places and persons, 
Stanton, i. e., Stony-town, Stanley, Stony field, Stanstead, Stony- 
place, &c. 

South, Sut, and Suth, are all from the Saxon South, as Sutton, 
South-town, Suthwell, South-well, &c. So also Sus in Sussex, i. e., 
South Saxony; hence also Suffolk, or the South Folk , in opposi¬ 
tion to Norfolk, or the North Folk. 

Thorp , a village, some villages and small towns are called so 
yet, as Thorp, near Chertsey, in Surrey. Adlestrop seems to be 
contracted from Adelsthorp; also the surname Longthorp, Col- 
thorpe, &c., denotes such families as had originally the lordship 
of some one or more of those thorps. 

Ton, signifies a town. This is one of the most common termi¬ 
nations of the names of places, as Hampton, Boston, Taunton, &c. 

Weald, Wald, Walt, are all derived from a forest or wood, and 
imply the same thing in places which have these words in their 
names, as Walton, Waltham, Walden, &c. 

Wie, Wich, signify sometimes a village, sometimes a port or 
harbour, and often a castle; hence Harwich, Norwich, Warwick, 
Wycomb, &c. 

Win, a battle; hence this syllable in the names of places im¬ 
ports some battle to have been fought there, or victory obtained, 
as Winborn, Winchester, &c., and in the names of persons it im¬ 
plies that some of the ancestors of the family had been great 
warriors and victorious, as Edwin, Baldwin, Godwin. 

Worth, signifies a court or forum, which is implied to have been 
in those places, the names of which are terminated herewith, as 
Wandsworth, Pet worth, &c. 

The reader who would wish to investigate more fully the 
various parts which serve to form our local names, is referred to 
a very learned little book upon the subject, which has recently 
been translated from the German. It is entitled, A Treatise on 
the Local Nomenclature of the Anglo-Saxons, as exhibited in the 
“ Codes Diplomatics FEvo Saxonici and will be found full of 
interesting information. 






360 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ADDITIONAL. 


- Such towns, cities, or villages, whose terminations are cluster, 
caster, or cester , show that the Romans, in their stay among us, 
made fortifications about the places where they are now situated. 
In the Latin tongue, castra is the name of these fortifications. 
Such are Castor, Tadcaster, Chester, Doncaster, Leicester. Don* 
signifies a mountain, and ley , or lei, ground widely overgrown, in 
our ancient tongue. Wye , wick, or wick, means a place of refuge, 
as in the termination of Warwick, Sandwich, Greenwich, Wool¬ 
wich. Thorp, before the word village was borrowed from the 
French, was used in its stead, and is found at the end of many 
towns’ names; for instance, Bishop^Aorpe, Middle^Aorpe, Saddle- 
thorpe, Thorpe-arch. Bury, burgh, bery, signifies metaphorically 
a town, having a wall about it; sometimes a high or chief place, 
likewise a place of burial: see Bury St. Edmunds. Wold means 
a plain open country, but is in many instances applied to hills; take 
for instance, the Yorkshire Wolds. Combe, a valley between two 
hills; knock , a hill, for instance, Knock lofty; hurst signifies a 
woody place, such as Mid -hurst, Chisel-/mrs£. Magh, a field, innes, 
an island; worth, a place situated between two rivers; and ing or 
hngs, a track of meadows. The word win, at the beginning or 
ending of the names of places, implies, that some great battle was- 
fought, or a victory gained there. The word is from the Saxon 
winnan, to win, or overcome. Bourn, or bourne, signifies a brook, 
stream, or rivulet, and terminates the names of many towns and 
places, such as Mary-1 e-bourne,f Hoi -bourn, or Old-bourne, East- 
bourne, Sitting-Aozwwe, &c. 


ADDITIONAL. 

Waltham, from Wealdnam. 

Worcester, from Wireceaster. 

Wolverhampton, from Vulfrcue's- hampton. 

Farnham, from Fernham, a bed of Ferns. 

Surrey, from Suthrey, the south side the river. 

Seymour, from Saint Maur. 

Selvedge, Salvedge, or safe edge. 

Rosemary, from Ros-mare. 

Rosamond, from Rosa Mundi. 

Gibraltar, from Ghibal Tariff. 

To cabbage, should be kabage, a northern word for steal. 






* It must here be observed, that Doncaster derives its name from the' 
river Don, therefore the above is not an invariable rule, 
f See Mai’y-le-bone. 















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


361 


EPITHETS AND PHRASES. 


EPITHETS. 

The meaning of the word Wretch is one not generally under¬ 
stood. It was originally, and is now, in some parts of England, 
used as a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. This is not 
the only instance in which words in their present general accepta¬ 
tion bear a very opposite meaning to what they did in Shak- 
speare’s time. The word Wench, formerly, was not used in that 
low and vulgar acceptation it is at present. Damsel was the 
appellation of young ladies of quality, and Dame a title of dis¬ 
tinction. Knave once signified a servant; and in an early 
translation of the New Testament, instead of “ Paul the Servant,” 
we read “ Paul the Knave of Jesus Christ.” On the other hand, 
the word Companion, instead of being the honourable synonyme 
of Associate, occurs in the play of Othello, with the same con¬ 
temptuous meaning which we now affix, in its abusive sense, to 
the word “ Fellow”—for Emilia, perceiving that some secret 
villain had aspersed the character of the virtuous Desdemona, 
thus indignantly exclaims:— 

“ O, Heaven! that snch Companions thou’dst unfold, 

And put in every honest hand a whip, 

To lash the rascal naked through the world! ” 


SPINSTER. 

Formerly it was a maxim, that a young woman should never 
be married till she had spun herself a set of body, table, and bed 
linen. From this custom all unmarried women were termed 
spinsters, an appellation they still retain in all deeds and law 
proceedings. 

ROUNDHEAD. 

The first origin of this party epithet, well known as being used 
during the troubles in the reign of Charles I., was introduced by 
Captain Hyde, drawing his sword amidst the mob at Westminster, 
on 28th December, 1641, and saying, he would crop the ears of 
those round-headed dogs that bawled against the bishops. The 
apprentices wore their hair cut round. From this trifling cir¬ 
cumstance originated the distinction of “ Roundheads” and “ Cava¬ 
liers.” Others, however, state, that it originated with the fanatics 
in the time of Charles I. ignorantly applying the text, “ Ye know 
that it is a shame for men to have long hair,” cut theirs very 
short. It is said, the queen once seeing Pym, a celebrated patriot 
thus croj>ped, inquired who that round-headed man was; from 








3132 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


this incident the distinction became general, and the party were 
called roundheads. 

CUTPURSE. 

This term, which we meet with so often in Shakspeare’s plays, 
and indeed in many works of more modern authors, is derived 
from the circumstance of persons in former days having their 
purses hanging in front, from their girdles, from whence they 
were cut by the Pickpurse, or Cutpurse, of former times. 

MISER. 

The term Miser, which we well know, signifies a man who 
makes his money his god ; is derived from Miserii , i. e., Misery, 
or Miserable. 

MYRMIDON. 

Myrmidon is derived from Myrmidons, a people of Thessaly, 
who by miracle, being ants (states the Heathen Mythology), were 
turned into men at the request of HSacus, when the most destruc¬ 
tive plague had destroyed the old inhabitants. They followed 
Achilles to the siege of Troy. Hence the term Myrmidon has 
been applied to followers, or hangers-on. 

ASS. 

The Ass is of Assyrian origin, and from the former syllable 
also derives its name. Nature, foreseeing the cruel usage which 
this useful servant to man should receive at man’s hands, did pru¬ 
dently in furnishing him with a tegument impervious to ordinary 
stripes. The malice of a child, or a weak hand, can make but 
feeble impression on him. To a common whip or switch, his hide 
presents an absolute insensibility. His back offers no mark to a 
puny foeman. You might as well pretend to scourge a school¬ 
boy with a tough pair of leather breeches on. His jerkin is well 
fortified. 

“-on him is ne’er engender’d 

The hatefull vermine that doth teare the skin.” 

And truly, when one thinks on the suit of impenetrable armour 
with which Nature (like Yulcan to Achilles) has provided him, 
these subtle enemies to our repose would have shown some dex¬ 
terity in getting into his quarters. The term Ass, as applied to 
the disciples of folly, has been of very long standing, having its 
origin, no doubt, in their proverbial stupidity. So, to conclude 
with a pun,—“Ass in prcesenti seldom makes a Wise Man in 
futuro .” 

ASSASSIN. 

There was, says Hume, a petty prince in Asia, commonly called 
“ The Old Man of the Mountain,” who had acquired such an 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


363 


ascendency over his fanatical subjects, that they paid the most 
implicit deference to his commands; esteemed assassination 
meritorious, when sanctioned by his mandate ; courted danger, 
and even certain death, in the execution of his orders ; and fan¬ 
cied that, when they sacrificed their lives for his sake, the highest 
joys of paradise were the infallible reward of their devoted obe¬ 
dience. It was the custom of this prince, when he imagined 
himself injured, to despatch secretly some of his subjects against 
the aggressor, to charge them with the execution of his revenge, 
to instruct them in every art of disguising their purpose ; and no 
precaution was sufficient to guard any man, however powerful, 
against the attempts of those subtle and determined ruffians. 

The greatest monarchs stood in awe of this Prince of the As¬ 
sassins or Hassassinali (for this was the name of his people ; 
whence the word has passed into most European languages), and 
it was the highest indiscretion in Conrade, Marquis of Montserrat, 
to offend and affront him. The inhabitants of Tyre, who were 
governed by that nobleman, had put to death some of this dan¬ 
gerous people. The prince demanded satisfaction ; for, as he 
piqued himself on never beginning any offence, he had his regular 
and established formalities in requiring atonement. Conrade 
treated his messengers with disdain. The prince issued his fatal 
orders. Two of his subjects who had insinuated themselves in 
disguise among Conrade’s guards, openly, in the streets of Sidon, 
wounded him mortally ; and when they were seized and put to 
the most cruel tortures, they triumphed amidst their agonies, and 
rejoiced that they had been destined by heaven to suffer in so 
just and meritorious a cause. 


A DUN! 

Some erroneously suppose, that the word dun comes from the 
French donner , to give, implying a demand ; but the true origin 
of this word, or epithet, so frequently used, is from one John 
Dunn, a famous bailiff, or sheriff’s officer, of the town of Lincoln; 
so extremely active and dexterous at the management of his 
rough business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused, 
or perhaps could not pay his debts, “ Why don’t you dunn him V* 
that is, “ Why don’t you send Dunn to arrest him ?” Hence it 
became a custom, and a proverb, and is as old as the days of 
Henry VIII. But the word dun is not merely confined to 
demanding payment with importunity, but to any other thing 
demanded in a similar manner. 

BAILIFF. 

Bailiff (states the Cabinet Lawyer) is of doubtful etymology, 
and applies to offices very different in rank and jurisdiction. 
Thus, the sheriff is Bailiff to the Crown, in the county of which 








364 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


he has the care, and in which he executes the King’s writs. There 
are likewise Bailiffs to whom the king’s castles are committed, 
as the Bailiff of Dover Castle. Lastly, the chief magistrates 
in divers ancient corporations, as Ipswich, Yarmouth, Colchester, 
Scarborough, and other places, are termed Bailiffs. 

The term Bailiff is no doubt derived from the word bail, 
implying responsibility, or a responsible person, as a Bailiff most 
assuredly is. 


ANTHONY PIG! 

The officers who had the inspection of the city markets in 
former times, were very diligent in detecting persons that 
brought bad provisions to sell; and pigs being then sold alive, 
they seized ail that were found unmarketable, and bestowed the 
same upon St. Anthony’s hospital, which the proctors or over¬ 
seers thereof no sooner received, than they hung a bell round 
each of their necks, as so many testimonials of their belonging 
to them, and sent them abroad into the world to shift for 
themselves. These pigs, by frequenting the several parts of the 
city, soon became acquainted with their benefactors, whom they 
followed with a continual whining (which gave birth to a proverb, 
that “ you follow and whine like a St. Anthony’s pig”), till they 
received a benevolence; whereby in a short time they became so 
fat, that they were taken up for the use of the fraternity. 
Another pleasant observer says, “ This was a common nickname 
for a dangler, among our old writers.” 

Tantliony, is a corruption of St. Anthony. In Hampshire the 
small pig of the litter (in Essex called ‘the cad’) is, or once was, 
called ‘ the Tantliony pig.’ Pigs were especially under this saint’s 
care. The ensign of the order of St. Anthony of Hainault was a 
collar of gold made like a hermit's girdle ; at the centre thereof 
hung a crutch and a small bell of gold. St. Anthony is styled, 
among his numerous titles, c membrorum restitutor,’ and 
‘ Dsemonis fugator:’ hence the bell. The Egyptians have none but 
wooden bells, except one brought by the Franks into the monas¬ 
tery of St. Anthony.—Rees’ Cyclopaedia , art. Bell. ‘ The custom 
of making particular Saints tutelars and protectors of one or an¬ 
other species of cattle, is still kept up in Spain, and other places. 
They pray to the tutelar when the beast is sick. Thus St. 
Anthony is for hogs, and we call a poor starved creature a 
Tantliony pig.—Salmon’s History of Hertfordshire, 1728. 


RIBALD. 

“It was,” says Yerstegan, “the proper name of Rabod, a 
heathen king of Friesland, who, being instructed in the faith of 
Christ by the godly Bishop Ulfran, faythfully promised to be 






TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


365 


baptized, and appointed the tyme and place: where being come, 
and standing in the water, he asked of the bishop where all his 
forefathers were, that in former ages were deceased ? The bishop 
answered, ‘That, dying without the knowledge of the true God, &c., 
they were in hell! ’ ‘ Then,’ quoth Rabod, 1 1 hold it better, and 
more praiseworthy, to go with the multitude to hell, than with 
your few Christians to heaven! ’ and therewith he went out of 
the water unchristened, and returned both to his wonted idolatry 
and his evil life, notwithstanding the good admonitions of the 
bishop, and an evident miracle which (through the power of 
God) the said bishop wrought even in his own presence. He 
was afterwards surprised with a sudden and unprovided death, 
about the yeere of our Lord 720, and his very name became 
so odious through his wickedness, that it grew to be a title of 
reproach and shame, and hath so continued ever since.” 

BEEFEATER. 

Beefeater is a corruption of the French le buffet , which is now 
used for the apartment in which refreshments are supplied to the 
guests at royal balls or concerts in France. The final syllable is 
like that of chcirretier, added to charrette , or layetier to layette , &c. 
Dr. Ash {English Dictionary ) has Beaufet, a corrupt spelling for 
a buffet. Boiste (. Dictionnaire Universel) has Buffeter {le verbe), 
and Buffeteur (le substantif); with a signification as regards 
drinking , and not eating. The buffeteur is described as a carrier 
who uses a gimlet, “ percer les tonneaux en route, pour voler le vin.” 
It is curious, however, that Boyer, in his French Dictionary, 
translates Beefeater, Mangeur de Boeuf, and subjoins, by way of 
remark, that this is a nickname given to the guards of England, 
because while on duty they are fed upon beef; that otherwise, 
their true name is Yeoman of the Guard. 

MAN OF STRxVW! 

It is a notorious fact, that many years ago wretches sold 
themselves to give any evidence, upon oath, that might be 
required; and some of these openly walked Westminster Hall 
with a straw in their shoe, to signify they wanted employ as 
witnesses; such was one of the customs of the “ good old times,” 
which some of us regret we were not born in. From this custom 
originated the saying, “ he is a Man of Straw.” An article in the 
Quarterly Review (vol. xxxiii. p. 344), in which the Greek courts 
of justice are treated of, there notices the custom.—“ We have all 
heard of a race of men who used, in former days, to ply about 
our own courts of law, and who, from their manner of making 
known their occupation, were recognised by the name of > Straw- 
shoes. An advocate, or lawyer, who wanted a convenient witness, 







366 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


knew by these signs where to find one, and the colloquy between 
the parties was brief. ‘Don’t you remember?’ said the 
advocate—(the party looked at the fee and gave no sign;, but the 
fee increased, and the powers of memory increased with it). ‘ To 
be sure I do.’ ‘Then come into the court and swear it.’ And 
Straw-shoes went into the court and swore it. Athens abounded 
in Straw-shoes.” 

LUNATIC ! 

The term Lunatic is derived from Luna , the moon, from the 
belief which formerly prevailed that all who are mentally de¬ 
ranged are more or less affected by the change in that luminary. 

POLTROON! 

According to Suetonius, in Vit. August, c. 24, a Homan knight, 
who had cut off the thumb of his two sons to prevent them being 
called to a military life, was by order of Augustus publicly sold, 
both he and his property. Calmet remarks, that the Italian 
language has preserved a term poltrone, which signifies one 
whose thumb is cut off, to designate a soldier destitute of courage 
and valour. We use poltroon to signify a dastardly fellow, 
without considering the import of the original. 

BIGOT! 

The word Bigot is derived by that judicious antiquary, Camden, 
from the following circumstance:—When Rollo, Duke of Nor¬ 
mandy, received Gisla,the daughter of Charles the Simple, King of 
France, in marriage, together with the investiture of that dukedom, 
lie would not submit to kiss Charles’s feet; and when his friends 
urged him by all means to comply with that ceremony, he made 
answer in the English tongue, “ Ne se, by God!” i. e., “ Not so, by 
God.” Upon which, the king and his courtiers deriding him, and 
corruptly repeating his answer, called him Bigot, from wdience 
the Normans were called Bigodi, or Bigots. 

TURN-COAT! 

The Duke of Savoy took, indifferently, sometimes part with 
France, and sometimes with Spain; for that purpose he had a 
justeau corps , white on one side and scarlet on the other, so that 
when he meant to declare for France he wore the white outside, 
and when for Spain the red. This is the origin of the proverb, 
tourner casaque, or “ turn coat.” 

YANKEE! 

Notwithstanding the various derivations which have been 
given, there never was any difference of opinion among those 





TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


367 


who have ever paid any attention to the subject, concerning the 
origin of this word. It is believed to have been derived from 
the manner in which the Indians endeavoured te pronounce the 
word English, which they rendered Yenghees, whence the word 
Yankee. The term Yankee was a cant or favourite word with 
one Jonathan Hastings, a settler at Cambridge, North America, 
about the year 1713. The inventor used it to express excellency. 
For instance, a “ Yankee good horse,” or “Yankee cider,” meant 
an excellent horse, and excellent cider. The students of a neigh¬ 
bouring college were accustomed to hire horses of Jonathan; 
their intercourse with him, and his use of the word upon all 
occasions, led them to adopt it, and they gave him the name of 
“Yankee Jonathan.” It was dispersed by the collegians 
throughout New England, until it became a settled term of 
reproach to all New Englanders, and eventually to all North 
Americans. 

BROTHER JONATHAN. 

The origin of this term, as applied to the United States, is as 
follows:—“When General Washington, after being appointed 
commander of the army of the revolutionary war, came to 
Massachusetts to organize it, and make preparations for the 
defence of the country, he found a great want of ammunition and 
other means necessary to meet the powerful foe he had to con¬ 
tend with, and great difficulty to obtain them. If attacked in 
such condition, the cause at once might be hopeless. On one 
occasion, at that anxious period, a consultation of the officers and 
others was held, when it seemed no way could be devised to make 
such preparations as were necessary. His excellency Jonathan 
Trumbull the elder was then governor of the State of Connecticut, 
on whose judgment and aid the general placed the greatest 
reliance, and remarked, ‘ We must consult Brother Jonathan on 
the subject.’ The general did so, and the governor was success¬ 
ful in supplying many of the wants of the army. When difficulties 
afterwards arose, and the army was spread over the country, it 
became a byword, 4 We must consult Brother Jonathan.’ The 
term Yankee is still applied to a portion, but 4 Brother Jonathan’ 
has now become a designation of the whole country, as John 
Bull has for England.”— Dictionary of Americanisms, by John 
Russell Bartlett. 

BROKER. 

The origin of this word is contested; some derive it from the 
French broyer, to grind ; others from brocader, to cavil or wriggle; 
others deduce broker from a trader broken, and that from the 
Saxon broc, misfortune, which is often the true reason of a man’s 
breaking. In which view, a broker is a broken trader by mis¬ 
fortune ; and it is said, that none but such were formerly ad¬ 
mitted to that employment. 








368 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BANKRUPT. 

The term Bankrupt (formerly spelt BanTcrout , and Banquerouf) 
is derived from the Italian Banka or Bauch, bench, and rupta, 
broken. The Italian money-lenders in the various cities of Italy, 
had a place of assembly of their own, and everyone had a bench 
or table, at which they stood and transacted their business. 
When any of them failed in their covenants, it was the custom to 
break up the bench of the individual, and hence came the term 
banca-rupta, or the bench is broken, and from whence also came 
our term bankrupt, as applied to a man whose name is published 
in the Gazette. In former times, if not even now, it was the 
custom in our corn-market, in Mark Lane, to break up the table 
or bench of any salesman who could not meet his payments. 

CAT’S PAW! 

The term Cat’s Paw, or the phrase, he is the Cat’s Paw of the 
party,” took its origin from the following anecdote: “A monkey 
and a turnspit, a kind of dog between the lurcher and the terrier, 
were at one period considered indispensable requisites in the 
culinary department, yclept the kitchen. Our readers will 
recollect the story of the roasted chestnuts in Don Saltero’s kitchen, 
where the monkey, taking a fancy to them as they were crackling 
within the bars of the fireplace," catched hold of the cat as she 
lay sleeping before the fire, and made use of her paw to with¬ 
draw some of the chestnuts from the scorching situation in which 
they were placed. From this circumstance, when one person 
pushes forward another to do that which he himself is either 
afraid to do, or ashamed to appear in, originated the saying, “ he 
is the Cat’s Paw of such a one,” or “ he is the Cat’s Paw of the 
party.” 

JACK KETCH. 

It is now about one hundred and ninety years ago, since one 
Dun, the then finisher of the law, departed this life, when one 
Jack Ketch was advanced to the office, and who has left his 
name to his successors ever since. This appears from Butler's 
Ghost, published in 1682. When the author wrote the first part 
of it, it is plain that Dun was the executioner’s name, or nick¬ 
name : 

“ For you yourself to act ’Squire Dun— 

Sucli ignominy ne’er saw the sun;” 

But before he had printed off his poem, Jack Ketch was in office; 

“ Till Ketch observing he was chous’d, 

And in his profits much abus’d, 

In open hall the tribunes dunn’d 
To do his office, or refund.” 






TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


3G9 


MY LORD! 

This title has a Grecian origin. “My Lord” was a nickname 
for deformed men, and is from the Greek word lordus, i. e., 
crooked. During the feudal times the lower class, by way of 
humour, called a man that was half an idiot, or deformed, “ My 
Lord,” in ridicule of their superiors. This, we suspect, says a 
writer in the New Monthly Magazine , is a popular fallacy; for 
•after a careful perusal of the most approved works that treat of 
Nobility, and of its origin, in these realms in particular, we are 
left very much in the dark as to the original patent in which 
this branch of it is recognised. Neither Camden, in his 
Etymologic and Original of Barons , nor Dugdale, in his 
Baronetage of England , nor Selden (a more exact and laborious 
inquirer than either), in his Titles of Honour , afford a glimpse 
of satisfaction upon the subject. There is an heraldic term, 
indeed, which seems to imply gentility, and the right to coat 
armour (but nothing further), in persons thus qualified. But 
the sinister bend is more properly interpreted, by the best writers 
on this science, of some irregularity of birth than of bodily con¬ 
formation. Nobility is,either hereditary or by creation, commonly 
called patent. Of the former kind the title in question cannot 
be, seeing that the notion of it is limited to a personal distinction, 
which does not necessarily follow in the blood. Honours of this 
nature, as Mr. Anstis very well observes, descend moreover in a 
right line. It must be by patent then, if any thing. But who 
can show it? How comes it to be dormant ? Under what king’s 
reign is it pretended 1 Among the grounds of nobility cited by 
the learned Mr. Ashmole, after “ Services in the Field or in the 
Council Chamber,” he judiciously sets down, “ Honours conferred 
by the sovereign out of mere benevolence, or as favouring one 
subject rather than another, for some likeness or conformity 
observed (or but supposed) in him to the royal nature;” and 
instances the graces showered upon Charles Brandon, who “ in 
his goodly person being thought not a little to favour the port 
and bearing of the king’s own majesty, was by that sovereign, 
Henry VIII., for some or one of these respects highly promoted 
and preferred.” Here, if any where, we thought we had dis¬ 
covered a clue to our researches. But after a painful in¬ 
vestigation of the rolls and records under the reign of Richard 
III., or Richard Crouchback, as he is more usually designated in 
the chronicles, from a traditionary stoop or gibbosity in that 
part,—we do not find that that monarch conferred any such 
lordships, as are here pretended, upon any subject or subjects, 
on a simple plea of “ conformity” in that respect to the “royal 
nature.” The posture of affairs in those tumultuous times, 
preceding the battle of Boswortli, possibly left him at no leisure 
to attend to such niceties.—Further than his reign we have not 

2 B 




370 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


extended our inquiries; the kings of England who preceded, or 
followed him, being generally described by historians to have 
been of straight and clean limbs, the “ natural derivative (says 
Daniel) of high blood, if not its primitive recommendation to 
such ennoblement, as denoting strength and martial prowess— 
the qualities set most by in that fighting age.” Another motive, 
which inclines us to scruple the validity of this claim, is the 
remarkable fact, that none of the persons in whom the right is 
supposed to be vested, do ever insist upon it themselves. There 
is no instance of any of them “ sueing his patent,” as the law¬ 
books call it; much less of his having actually stepped up into 
his proper seat, as, so qualified, we might expect that some of 
them would have had the spirit to do, in the House of Lords. 
On the contrary, it seems to be a distinction thrust upon them. 
“ Their title of Lord (says one of their own body, speaking of the 
common people) I never much valued, and now I entirely 
despise: and yet they will force it upon me as an honour which 
they have a right to bestow, and which I have none to refuse.” 
Upon a dispassionate review of the subject, we are disposed to 
believe that there is no right to the peerage incident to mere 
bodily configuration; that the title in dispute is merely honorary, 
and depending upon the breath of the common people; which in 
these realms is so far from the power of conferring nobility, that 
the ablest constitutionalists have agreed in nothing more 
unanimously, than in the maxim that the King is the sole fountain 
of honour. 


GOWK AND CUCKOO. 

This is called “hunting the Gowk;” and the bearer of the 
fool’s errand is called an “ April Gowk.” Brand says, that Gowk 
is properly a Cuckoo, and is used here metaphorically for a fool; 
this appears correct, for from the Saxon geac, a cuckoo, is derived 
geek* which means, one easily imposed on. Malvolio, who had 
been made a fool by a letter purporting to have been written by 
Olivia, inquires of her— 

“ Why have you suffer'd me to be— 

Made the most notorious geek and gull 
That e’er invention play’d on?” 

Olivia affirms that the letter was not written by her, and ex¬ 
claims to Malvolio— 

“ Alas, poor fool! how they have baffled thee!” 

Geek is likewise derivable from the Teutonic geckjocus .t 

STALKING HORSE. 

This general term for some insignificant person or thing, thrust 
intentionally forward to conceal a more important object, had 

* Ash. f Jamieson, in Nares’ Glossary. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


371 


originally a more definite meaning. The Albanian sportsmen, 
Dr. Clark says, still use it, practising the old method of shooting 
with one, i. e., by carrying the picture of a horse or a cow, behind 
which they concealed themselves, and take their aim through a 
hole in the picture. Among us, the “ Stalking-horse” was either 
a real horse (an old jade trained for the purpose), and walking 
up and down in the water, which way the sportsman pleased, or 
apiece of old canvass shaped like a horse grazing, stuffed, painted 
brown, and fixed to a staff, with a sharp iron at one end to stick 
in the ground ; when the fowl became familiar with the horse, 
the sportsmen varied the device by using a stalking ox or cow, 
and stalking stags or deer, especially for fenny grounds, and 
even trees, shrubs, and bushes, all of painted canvass. 

BEARS AND BULLS. 

The word Bear, applied to a certain class on the Stock Exchange, 
signifies one who insures a real value upon an imaginary thing, 
and who is said to sell a Bear, which is the same thing as a pro¬ 
mise among courtiers, or a vow between lovers. The party called 
a Bull is the opposite contracting party. It takes its origin 
merely from the circumstance, that the Bear, being a voracious 
animal, generally sacrifices the Bull when an opportunity presents 
itself. 

YORKSHIRE BITE. 

The misapplication of the original meaning of this term is very 
general. We always use it to convey a feeling of mistrust; or, 
a fear of coming in contact with one more adept in cunning than 
ourselves. It is true, Yorkshiremen are keen dealers ; this, how¬ 
ever, is no detraction ; on the contrary, it is an evidence of in¬ 
dustrious habits. The hospitality for which they are so famous, 
gave rise to the term Yorkshire bite. It is said that the fatted 
calf and flowing bowl greet the stranger at every step, and after 
the common salutation, the question “ Will you bite ?” or “ Will 
you sup % ” is sure to follow ; and from this originated a term, 
used as a sarcasm, but which, in point of fact, derived as it is, 
ought to be used as a compliment. 

JOURNEYMAN. 

There is a general law or custom in Germany, that apprentices, 
after the expiration of their service, shall travel two years before 
prosecuting their trade as master-workmen. Hence the etymo¬ 
logy of journeyman, 

VILLAIN. 

The epithet Villain, now a term of great reproach, is derived 
from will , or lordship ; and which signified one w^tio ^ sgi* 




.372 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


vant during life, and devisable as chattels, in the feudal times. 
In 1572, Queen Elizabeth ordered her bondmen to be set free 
at very easy rates. 

VICAR OF BRAY! 

Bray is a village in Berkshire. The vivacious Yicar hereof, 
says Fuller, living under Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary, 
and Queen Elizabeth, was first a Papist, then a Protestant, then 
a Papist, then a Protestant again. He had seen some martyrs 
burnt (two miles off) at Windsor, and found this fire too hot for 
his tender temper. This Vicar being taxed by one for being a 
turncoat and inconstant changeling,—“ Not^ so,” said he, “ for I 
always kept my principle, which is this, to live and die the Vicar 
of Bray.” 

BUGG-A-BO! 

Bugg-a-bo, or Buggan-bo, was originally no more than mothers 
frightening their children with the “ bull-bo,” which the little 
oue, not rightly pronouncing, called Bugg-a-bo. It is properly 
bogle-bo,—bogle signifying a malevolent spirit; the Shropshire 
term, buggan-bo, meaning the same thing. If a horse takes fright, 
they say, he spies a buggan ! 

COWARD. 

A feudal expression, implying Cow-herd, for. which office a 
man void of courage was deemed only fit for. 

APRIL FOOL! 

It has been very often inquired, whence this custom was 
derived. The Editor believes it to be a custom of great antiquity. 
—The ancients had many rites and ceremonies in honour of their 
gods. The Komans kept their Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, 
beginning on the 17th December, which lasted during five days. 
Bocharius is of opinion they took their origin from Noah’s 
drunkenness. These were times when all business ceased except 
cooking ; when servants might command their masters, and slaves 
become unruly without fear of punishment. The Bacchanalia, 
or feasts in honour of Bacchus, lasted three days, and commenced 
after the vine harvests, and then drunkenness was the privilege 
of all. The Stultinaria were confined to one day, the 1st of April, 
when the idiots had their annual holiday, and when children were 
encouraged to make derision of them, and send them on needless 
errands, &c. Some writers are of opinion, that the Romans had 
much policy in allowing these feasts, or holidays. By the first 
(Saturnalia), they saw how servants and slaves would act had 
they power. By the second (Bacchanalia), they were able to 
discover the natural inclinations and vices of all that inebriated 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


373 

themselves. Ancl the encouragement they gave to children, in 
the third instance (Stultinaria), to deride fools, would, they hoped, 
make them desirous to receive their education, lest they might, 
in time, become themselves objects of derision and contempt. 

WHIGS AND TORIES. 

In the year 1680, two parties were formed, called the Addressers 
and Abhorrers; out of which arose the after-party appellations 
of Whigs and Tories. The Whigs were directed by the Earl of 
Shaftesbury, and the Tories by Sir Roger L’Estrange and others. 
Another writer gives the following derivation:—•“ Whig and Tory, 
the epoch of 1680. The first was a name of reproach, given by 
the court party to their antagonists, for resembling the principles 
of the whigs, or fanatical conventiclers in Scotland; and the other 
was given by the country party to that of the court, comparing 
them to the Tories, or Popish robbers in Ireland. They formerly 
were called Whigs from Whiggamors, a name given to the Scots 
in the South-west, who, for want of corn in that quarter, used 
annually to repair to Leith, to buy stores that came from the 
North, and all that drove were called Whiggamors or Wliiggs, 
from the term Whiggam, which they used in driving their 
horses. In the year 1638, the Presbyterian ministers incited an 
insurrection against the court, and marched with the people to 
Edinburgh; this was called ‘the Whiggamors’ Inroad,’ and 
after this, all who opposed administration were called Whigs; 
hence the term was adopted in England.” Malone says, that the 
term Tory is derived from an Irish word toree, give me (your 
money). The character of the Tories is thus noticed by Glanville, 
in one of his sermons, long before the political distinction existed. 
“ Let such men quit all pretences to civility and breeding: they 
are ruder than Toryes and wild Americans.” 

Tory hunting was almost viewed in the light of a pastime. An 
old rhyme, in allusion to this sport, is still orally current in the 
south of Ireland, and a decided favourite in the nursery collection: 

“Ho! Master Teague, what is your story? 

I went to the wood, and I kill’d a Tory: 

I went to the wood, and I kill’d another, 

Was it the same, or was it his brother? 

“ I hunted him in, and I hunted him out, 

Three times through the bog, about and about; 

When out of a bush I saw his head, 

So I fired my gun, and I shot him dead.” 


CAMARILL. 

The party thus termed in Spain, take their name from a small 
room in the king’s apartments, formerly destined as a sitting- 


374 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


room for the attendants of the second class, whose office was to 
answer the king’s bell. The pleasure which Ferdinand, even 
from his infancy, always found in the company of the lowest and 
most vulgar of the royal household, made him so often frequent 
this place, that at last it became the general rendezvous of his 
friends. Here assembled a swarm of ambitious intriguers, monks, 
spies, inquisitors, sycophant military, and various other vaga¬ 
bonds. These were the elements with which the secret society, 
called by some “ The anchor of the faith and of the king,” 
began their labours. 

O 

MEN OF KENT. 

It is recorded when Harold, or rather England, was invaded 
by William, a portion of the inhabitants of Kent went out to 
meet him, covered with oak boughs, in order to deceive him as to 
their numbers. They were headed by the Archbishop of Canter¬ 
bury. Upon arriving at Hastings, which was just at the crisis 
of the battle, they only agreed to lay down their arms on condi¬ 
tion that their ancient privileges of Gavel-kind law, and the 
exemption of tithes, was secured to them. This William readily 
granted, foreseeing that men who fought for their ancient privi¬ 
leges and liberties, were far more dangerous opponents than those 
who merely fought for their pay. On reference to Hasted’s 
History of Kent , the boundary lines which distinguish the men 
of Kent from the Kentish men, will be seen. The principal 
features of the Law of Gavel-kind is, that on a person dying 
intestate, the property is equally divided among the children; 
likewise, that a person is of age to convey property at sixteen, 
and his receipt also is valid. 

JOHN DOE AND RICHARD ROE. 

These worthies, formerly so well known to those unfortunate 
wights who incur the serving of a certain process, derived their 
consequence from the custom, to find two sureties on arresting a 
man, who were bound over in heavy penalties, that the Pursuer 
should prove the justice and the legality of his claim; otherwise, 
that the pursued should receive indemnity from the parties thus 
bound over. This good old custom, however, in process of time, 
degenerated into the mere nominal recognizances or sureties of 
“John Doe and Richard Roe,” and from which have arisen all 
those false arrests and false imprisonments which have so long 
disgraced our criminal courts. 

In 1724, a Frenchman of the name of Louissart Houssart, was 
tried at the Old Bailey for the murder of his wife, and acquitted, 
but detained in custody on a charge of bigamy. An appeal was 
brought against him by the brother of the deceased, and he was 
brought to a second trial, when some new evidence being pro- 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


375 


duced, he was found guilty, and afterwards executed. It is 
remarkable, that in this case the prisoner made some objections 
to the plea, which were referred to the jury, who decided against 
him on them all. One of the prisoner’s objections was, that 
“ there were no such persons as John Doe and Richard Roe,” 
who are mentioned as pledges in the appeal; but a witness de¬ 
posed, that there were two such persons living in Middlesex, one 
a weaver and the other a soldier. However, on the 24th October, 
1852, these two celebrated characters ceased legally to exist any 
longer. By the Act 15th and 16th Yict. cap. 76, sect. 168, it is 
enacted, that “ instead of the present proceeding by ejectment, 
a writ shall be issued, directed to the persons by name in pos¬ 
session of the property claimed, which property shall be described 
in the writ with reasonable certainty.” 

JOHN AUDLEY. 

When theatric performers intend to abridge an act or play, they 
are accustomed to say, “ We will John Audley it!” It originated 
thus:—In the year 1749, Shuter was master of a droll at Bartho¬ 
lomew fair, and it was his mode to lengthen the exhibition until 
a sufficient number of persons were gathered at the door to fill 
the house. This event was signified by a fellow popping his 
head in at the gallery door and bellowing out “ John Audley,” 
as if in act of inquiry, though the intention was to let Shuter 
know that a fresh audience were in high expectation below. The 
consequence of this notification was, that the entertainments 
were immediately concluded, and the gates of the booth thrown 
open for a new auditory. 


OLD ROWLEY. 

This was the nickname of Charles II., who was famous for his 
amours. Old Rowley was a famous stallion in his Majesty’s stud. 
George I. had also his nickname, viz., the Turnip Hoer: it is 
said, when his Majesty first came to England, he talked of turn¬ 
ing St. James’s park into a turnip ground. The old Jacobites 
and old Wliigs used to annoy each other by the singing of two 
songs, the one was Old Rowley, and the other the Turnip Hoer; 
the former a lampoon upon Charles II. for his royal amours; 
and the latter upon George I. for his princely economy. 

SKINFLINT. 

“ The antiquity of certain proverbs is among the most striking 
singularities in the annals of the human mind. Abdalmalek, one 
of the khaliffs of the race of Ommiades, was surnamed Raschal 
Hegiarah, that is, i the skinner of a flint;’ and to this day we 
call an avaricious man a Skinflint .”—Universal Magazine , 1796. 






376 


TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BARON MUNCHAUSEN! 

It is generally believed (says tlie “New Monthly Magazine") 
that Munch-Hausen is only a nom cle guerre. Such, however, 
is not the fact. Baron Muncli-Hausen was a Hanoverian noble¬ 
man, and even so late as five-and-forty years ago he was alive 
and lying. It is true that the Travels published as his, 
though not by him, were intended as a satire or parody on the 
travels of the famous Baron de Tott; but Muncli-Hausen was 
really in the habit of relating the adventures, now sanctioned by 
the authority of his mendacious name, as having positively occur¬ 
red to him; and from the frequency of the repetition of the 
same stories, without the slightest variation even in their most 
minute points, he at length believed the narratives he had him¬ 
self invented, and delivered them with as much sang-froid as if 
they had described nothing but so many proba,ble events. There 
was nothing of th e fanfaron, or braggart, in his manner; on the 
contrary, he was distinguished by the peculiar modesty of his 
manner and demeanour. 

CAPABILITY BROWN. 

Launcelot Brown, called “ Capability Brown,” from his constant 
usage of the term, as well as for his genius for making sterile 
grounds fruitful, and naked and unseeming, beautiful and en¬ 
chanting. He was employed by Lord Cobham in improving the 
grounds at Stowe, and afterwards at Richmond, Blenheim, Luton, 
Wimbledon, &c. He successfully exploded the old, stiff, unnatural 
Dutch style of gardening, and introduced an improved fashion 
that prevailed for nearly half a century. His works discover 
a highly cultivated taste, and have commanded the admiration 
both of Englishmen and foreigners. He associated familiarly 
with many of his noble and opulent employers, and realized a 
handsome fortune. In 1759, he was appointed head gardener to 
King George II., at Hampton Court. In 1770, he served the 
office of High Sheriff for the counties of Huntingdon and Cam¬ 
bridge ; and died suddenly in Hertford Street, May-fair, February 
6, 1783. 

ADMIRABLE CRICHTON. 

This most extraordinary man derived his appellation from his 
numerous and wonderful endowments. He lived in the time of 
James I. He spoke fluently every known language; he was 
versed in every science, and skilled in every accomplishment. He 
challenged to disputation the whole College of Cardinals, and 
almost every public and learned body in Europe, and bore off the 
palm! The Duke of Mantua was his patron, and appointed him 
preceptor to his son, who, envious of his merits, waylaid (with 
some others) and mortally wounded him. He, however, as well 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 377 

as the other assassins, paid with their lives the forfeit of their 
temerity, Crichton killing every one of them. 

PEEPING TOM OF COVENTRY. 

Peeping Tom, a person of nearly as much, notoriety as the 
Countess Godiva, and an auxiliary in the drama under that 
denomination, derives his importance from the following histori¬ 
cal circumstance. In the early part of the reign of Edward the 
Confessor, Leofric, the fifth Earl of Mercia, and his countess 
Godiva, sister to Thorold, sheriff of Lincolnshire, founded a 
monastery on the ruins of St. Osburg’s nunnery for an abbot and 
twenty-four monks of the Benedictine order. This monastery 
was so liberally endowed by Leofric, that it surpassed all others 
in the county in splendour and magnificence; so that Malmsbury 
relates, that it was enriched and beautified with so much gold and 
silver, that the walls seemed too narrow to contain it; insomuch 
that Rob de Limesie, bishop of this diocese in the time of king 
William Rufus, scraped from one beam that supported the shrines 
five hundred marks of silver. 

With the foundation of its monastic structure commenced the 
prosperity of Coventry ; but it seems the city had yet to complain 
of the grievance of excessive tolls, which Leofric, as lord of the 
town, levied; and concerning the manner in which they were 
relieved from it, is told a romantic tale, which Dugdale thus 
relates:—The Countess Godiva,bearing an extraordinary affection 
to this place, often and earnestly besought her husband, that for 
the love of God, and the blessed Virgin, he would free it from 
that grievous servitude whereunto it was subject; but he, rebuk¬ 
ing her for importuning him in a matter so inconsistent with 
liis profit, commanded that she should thenceforth forbear to 
move therein; yet she, out of her womanish pertinacity, continued 
to solicit him; insomuch that he told her, if she would ride on 
horseback, naked, from one end of the town to the other, in the 
sight of all the people, he would grant her request. Whereunto 
she answered, But will you give me leave so to do ? And he 
replying yes, the noble lady upon an appointed day got on horse¬ 
back, naked, with her hair loose, so that it covered all her body 
but her legs, and thus performing the journey, returned with joy 
to her husband, who therefore granted to the inhabitants a 
charter of freedom, which immunity I rather conceive to have 
been a kind of manumission from some such servile tenure, 
whereby they then held what they had under this great earl, 
than only a freedom from all manner of toll, except horses, as 
Knighton affirms. It is said by Rapin, that the countess, previous 
to her riding, commanded all persons to keep within doors, and 
from their windows, on pain of death; but, notwithstanding this 
severe penalty, there was one person who could not forbear giving 








378 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


a look, out of curiosity; but it cost him liis life. From this cir¬ 
cumstance, reader, originated the familiar epithet of “ Peeping 
Tom of Coventry.” A figure, commemorative of the peeper, has 
long been preserved there, and is now inserted in the niche of a 
new house, communicating with the High Street. 

JACK OF NEWBURY. 

This title was given to John Winchcomb, who was in the time 
of Henry VIII. the greatest clothier in England. He kept one 
hundred looms in his own house at Newbury, and armed and 
clothed at his own expense one hundred of his men, to march in 
the expedition against the Scots at Flodden Field. 

THE TRIBES OF GALWAY. 

The “ Tribes of Galway ” is an expression first used by Crom¬ 
well’s forces, as a term of reproach against the natives of the 
town, for their singular friendship and attachment to each other 
during the time of their troubles and persecutions ; but which the 
latter afterwards adopted as an honorable mark of distinction 
between themselves and their cruel oppressors. These tribes or 
families, who colonised Galway in the thirteenth century, were 
thirteen in number, according to the following distich:— 

“ Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Deane, Darcy, Lynch, 

Joyes, Kirwan, Martin, Morris, Skerrett, French.” 

See Hardman’s History of Galway , pp. 6—20, 4to, 1820, which 
contains a plate of the armorial ensigns of these ancient families. 

CURSE OF SCOTLAND. 

The nine of diamonds, being termed the “ Curse of Scotland,” 
originates from a Scotch member, whose family arms is the nine 
of diamonds, voting for the introduction of the Malt Tax into 
Scotland.—Another version states, that the nine of diamonds 
is called the “ Curse of Scotland” because it is the great winning 
card at Comette, which was a game introduced into Scotland by 
the French attendants of Mary of Lorraine, queen of James V., 
to the ruin of many Scotch families. 

GOOD OLD TIMES. 

It has been supposed by many, that this phrase is of uncertain 
date, and that it has been made use of, as it were, from time im¬ 
memorial. In Godwin’s History of the Commonwealth, however, 
we are informed, that it first came into use at that period. The 
cant and hypocrisy of the day became so disgusting, that two- 
thirds of the nation began to wish in their hearts, however 
cautious they were with their tongues, for the restoration of the 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


379 

royal family. Being restrained from speaking tlieir sentiments- 
openly, they strung together many ambiguous terms; among 
others was, wishing for a return of the “ good old times,” which 
really meant a return to the monarchial system, and the demoli¬ 
tion of Cromwell’s government; although, if required, a less 
objectional (to the governors) explanation might have been given. 

BY HOOK OR BY CROOK! 

The proverb of getting any thing by Hook or by Crook, is said 
to have arisen in the time of Charles I., when there were two 
learned judges named Hooke and Crooke; and a difficult cause 
was to have been gotten either by Hooke or by Crooke. Spenser, 
however, mentions these words twice in his Faery Queene, which 
is a proof that this proverb is much older than that time; and 
that the phrase was not then used as a proverb but applied as a 
pun.— Warton. 

1 

HOBSON’S CHOICE! 

This saying is derived from one Hobson, who let out horses at 
Cambridge, and obliged such as wanted one, to take that next 
the stable door, being the one which had had most rest. 

GOOD WINE NEEDS NO BUSH. 

Bushes of evergreen, such as ivy, cypress, &c., were anciently 
signs where wine was sold ; hence the proverb, or saying, “ Good 
wine needs no bush!” 

Commentators have been sadly puzzled to find out the meaning 
of this proverb, which a residence in France during the autumn 
would easily have solved. In the departments where the vine is 
cultivated, the peasant sells its vintage, and as a sign, a green 
bush is stuck in the wall over the door; this is a regulation of 
the police; and as long as the peasant has any wine to sell, so long 
must the bush remain. If one has made better wine than an¬ 
other, the news is soon spread abroad among the topers, and hence 
the proverb, “ good wine needs no bush.” 

THEY ARE SWORN BROTHERS! 

The term “ sworn brothers” arose from a custom in Morlachia, 
and other places, where friendships between the same sex are, like 
marriages, ratified at the altar. Others say, from persons cove¬ 
nanting formerly to share each other’s fortune in an expedition 
to invade a country, as were Robert de Oily and Robert de Ivery 
in William the First’s expedition into England, or the three 
Pizarros to Peru. Hence, also, the term of “brethren in iniquity,” 
because of their dividing plunder. 


380 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIU . 


GOD BLESS YOU ! TO THE SNEEZER. 

The custom of saying “God bless you” to any one who sneezes, 
seems to have begun about the year of our Lord 750. According 
to Mythology, the first sign of life Prometheus’s artificial man 
gave, was by sneezing, which Prometheus observing, offers up a 
fervent prayer for the preservation of so singular a being. His 
automaton observed him, and remembering his ejaculation, was 
very careful, on the like occasions, to offer these wishes in behalf 
of his descendants, who perpetuated it from father to son in all 
their colonies. This custom is practised among the Jews and 
among the Abyssinians. When the king of Monomotapa sneezes, 
those who are near him loudly wish him happiness, this is catched 
by those farther off, and is echoed through the whole city. 

DINING WITH DUKE HUMPHREY! 

“ Dining with duke Humphrey” is said of those who walked 
in Saint Paul’s Church during dinner-time, Humphrey, Duke of 
Gloucester, being a man of great hospitality, and supposed to have 
been buried in Saint Paul’s. • But (saith Doctor Fuller) that say¬ 
ing is as far from truth as they from dinner, even twenty miles 
off, seeing this duke was buried in the Church of St Albans, to 
which he was a great benefactor. 

AS STUPID AS A GOOSE! 

“ As stupid as a goose” is a very common saying indeed, and is 
used to denote the extreme of stupidity. It may be truly said, 
as regards geese in general, that it carries with it its origin; and 
is introduced here merely to show that all geese are not stupid 
alike. History informs us, that the cackling of geese saved the 
capitol of Rome; and the Glasgow Courier , not long ago, gave 
us the following instance of the above position. “A haughty 
dunghill cock, at a farm at the head of this county, took a par¬ 
ticular antipathy to afine goose, the guardian of a numerous brood; 
and accordingly, wheresoever and whenever they met, the cock 
immediately set upon his antagonist. The goose, who had little 
chance with the nimble and sharp heels of his opponent, and who 
had accordingly suffered severely in various rencontres, got so exas¬ 
perated against his assailant, that one day, during a severe combat, 
he grasped the neck of his foe with his bill, and dragging him 
along by main force, he plunged him into an adjoining pond, 
keeping his head, in spite of every effort, underwater, and where 
the cock would have been drowned, had not a servant who wit¬ 
nessed the proceeding rescued the humble foe. From that day 
forward the goose received no further trouble from his enemy.” 

The compiler here suggests, that the North Country Geese may 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


3S1 


be an exception to the general rule, especially after laying his 
hand on the following:— 

# o 

One morning lately, during the frost, the geese were as usual 
let out of their roosting-place, and, according to their customary 
habit, went directly to the pond on the common; they were observed 
by the family to come back immediately, but you may guess their 
astonishment, when in a few minutes they were seen to return 
to the pond, each, five in number, with a woman’s patten in their 
mouths !!! The females, to rescue so useful a part of their dress 
from the possession of the invaders of their property, immediately 
made an attack, when the waddling banditti made such a stout 
resistance, that it was not till some male allies were called in, 
that a victory could be obtained the relater continues, “I was 
much concerned, when this anecdote was related to me, that the 
geese were not suffered to proceed .”—Letter from York. 

So much for the saying, “ As stupid as a goose!” 


WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HORSE-CHESTNUT AND A 

CHESTNUT HORSE? 

In the reign of queen Anne lived two gentlemen, both members 
in the same parliament; the one was called Montague Matthieu, 
the other Matthew Montague: the former a tall handsome man, 
the latter a deformed ugly one. On one occasion, in the house, 
an honourable member inadvertently attributed something that 
had been said by Mr. Matthew Montague, to Mr. Montague 
Matthieu: upon which, the latter got up and appealed to the 
speaker and the house in the following manner:— 

“ Sir, an honourable member has charged me with having said 
that which I never gave utterance to, but which came from Mr. 
Matthew Montague. Now, Sir, I must appeal to you and this 
honourable house, whether there is not as much difference be¬ 
tween Mr. Matthew Montague, and Mr. Montague Matthieu, as 
there is between a horse-chestnut and a chestnut horse ? ” It is 
almost needless to add that the house was convulsed with laughter, 
in which Mr. Matthew Montague most heartily joined: lienee 
the origin of the whimsical question, “What’s the difference be¬ 
tween a horse-chestnut and a chestnut horse ?” 

ANOTHER FOR HECTOR! 

The following is the origin of this saying:—In the battle of 
Inverkeitliing, between the Loyalists and Oliver Cromwell’s 
troops, 500 of the followers of the Laird of Maclean were left dead 
on the field. In the heat of the conflict, seven brothers of the 
clan sacrificed their lives in defence of their leader, Sir Hector 
Maclean, who, being hard pressed by the enemy, was supported 




382 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


and covered from tlieir attacks by these brothers, and as one fell, 
another came up in succession to cover him, crying, “ Another for 
Hector!” This phrase has ever since continued as a proverb, or 
watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that 
requires instant success. 

HECTOR’S CLOAK. 

The Earl of Northumberland having joined the Duke of Norfolk, 
and others, who were the supporters of Mary Queen of Scots, the 
former was betrayed by a faithless borderer to the regent Moray, 
whose successor, Morton, sold his unfortunate captive to Lord 
Hunsdon, governor of Berwick, to expiate his errors on the 
scaffold. This borderer was Hector Graham of Harelaw. A 
list of the Border Clans, in 1605, enumerates among them this 
name, and “ the griefs and cuti of Harelaw.” It may be some 
satisfaction to learn, that this villain did not go unpunished: from 
affluent circumstances he sunk into unaccountable poverty; and 
to take “ Hector’s Cloak,” has become proverbial throughout the 
country for betraying a friend. 

I PLEDGE YOU! 

Pledging each other in drinking is a custom which took its 
origin from the time the Danes were in England, who invited to 
their banquet those island chiefs whom they wished to put out 
of the way either by the dagger or by poison. The consequence 
was, that no native would drink at a Danish festival unless his 
entertainers, or one of them, would “ pledge” his safety in a cup 
of wine beforehand; and, even among those barbarian invaders, 
this pledge was deemed sacred. The drinking phrase, “ I pledge 
you,” is said to have originated from the murder of Edward, 
by his stepmother Elfrida, while drinking on horseback at 
the gate of Corfe castle, in the isle of Purbeck. The treachery 
of the crime occasioned a general distrust; no one would 
drink without security from him who sat beside him, that he was 
safe while the bowl was at his lips; and hence is said to have 
originated the customary expression at table of “ I pledge you,” 
when one person invited another to drink first. 

SOUND AS A ROACH! 

Butler states, that St. Roche, being afflicted with a pestilence, 
crawled into a forest, where he bore such pains, and manifested 
so much patience under his afflictions, that an angel visited him, 
healed his wounds, and made him perfectly sound. He was 
esteemed the patron saint from that period of all afflicted with 
the plague, for it was believed that the miraculous intermission 
of St. Roche could make them as sound as himself; and from 
hence came the saying, “ Sound as a roach,” 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


383 


NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME WAS BURNING. 

Suetonius relates, that somebody in conversation saying, “ "When 
I am dead let fire devour the world “ Nay,” rejoined Nero, “ let 
it be whilst I am livingand then he set Rome on fire in so 
barefaced a manner, that many of the consular dignities detected 
the incendiaries with torches and tow in their own houses, and 
dared not touch them because they were officers of Nero’s bed¬ 
chamber. The fire, during six days and seven nights, consumed 
a prodigious number of stately buildings, the public temples, and 
every thing of antiquity that was remarkable and worthy of 
preservation. The common people were driven by this con¬ 
flagration to the tombs and monuments for shelter; and Nero 
himself beheld the flames from a tower on the top of Mecaenas’s 
house, and sung a ditty on the destruction of Troy, in the dress 
which he used to perform in on the public stage. This atrocious 
want of feeling occasioned the saying, “ Nero fiddled while Rome 
was burning.” 

A PEG TOO LOW! 

Frequent and bloody were the quarrels of our Saxon ancestors 
over their wassail bowls. To soften these, Dunstan advised that 
none should drink except from cups pegged so regularly within, 
that from peg to peg should be considered a legal bumper. Such 
pegged vessels are still to be seen in the cabinets of antiquaries; 
and to this regulation we owe the expression of a man being a 
“peg too low.” Priests are directed, by a council held in 1102, 
not to drink two pegs —Nee ad pinnas bibant. 

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT! 

The use of “ your humble servant” came first into England on 
the marriage of Queen Mary, daughter of Henry IV. of France, 
which is derived from voire tres humble serviteur. 

SHAMMING ABRAHAM. 

If any of the old accounts of London are looked into, it will be 
seen that, when Bethlem was first built and endowed, there was 
a part appropriated for the reception and maintenance of idiots. 
They were designated by the title of Abraham Men, because that 
was the name of the ward wherein they were confined. On the 
first of April, such as were not too incapacitated had a holiday 
to see their friends; such as had not any begged about the streets. 
They wore the dress of the hospital, and excited the compassion 
of many on account of the game made of them by the vulgar and 
children, who knew no better; which induced numbers of vagrants 
to imitate the dress, and pretend idiotism, till an order was 







384 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


issued from the governors, that if any person should sham an 
Abraham he should be whipped and set in the stocks; from 
whence came the saying, “He is shamming Abraham.” In Decker’s 
English Villanies there are many curious particulars of the habits 
of this class of impostors. “ She’s all Abram,” that is, quite 
naked. “ What an Abram! ” an exclamation for a ragged fellow. 
“An Abraham man” was an impostor who personated a poor 
lunatic called Tom of Bedlam: one of this class is described by 
Shakspeare in his Lear, Act II. Sc. 3.; 

“ The basest and most poorest shape, 

That every penury, in contempt of man. 

Brought near to beast.” 

Among sailors, “ An Abram” is being unwell, or out of sorts. 
When Abraham Newland was cashier of the Bank of England, 
it was sung— 

“ I have heard people say, 

That sham Abraham you may, 

But you must not sham Abraham Newland.” 


HANG ON JERRY! 

This phrase, so peculiar to our meat markets, derives its im¬ 
portance from the following. The retail butchers, especially 
those who have stands in the markets of a Saturday night, when 
the working classes are generally seeking their Sunday dinner, 
hang on a heavy meat hook, weighing half or three-quarters of 
a pound, to the end, of the beam over the meat scale. 

“ It is seven o’clock, Bill,” says the master to the boy ; “ hang 
on Jerry!” on goes the hook, and every joint of meat sold after¬ 
wards, on that evening, is deficient in weight. Nothing annoys 
a butcher more than the use of this phrase as you pass his shop. 

WHEN THE STEED’S STOLEN, SHUT THE STABLE DOOR! 

This saying originated out of an old Cheshire proverb, “ When 
the daughter is stolen, shut the Pepper-gate.” This is founded 
on the fact, that the mayor of Chester had his daughter stolen 
as she was playing at ball with other maidens in Pepper-street; 
the young man who carried her off came through the Pepper- 
gate, and the mayor wisely ordered the gate to be shut up, 
which gave cause for the above saying, and from which originated 
the more general one, “ When the steed’s stolen, shut the stable 
door.” 

WHILE THE GRASS GROWS THE STEED STARVES! 

In some parts of Lincolnshire the soil is very prolific, so much 
so, that it has been said, “ Turn a horse into a new-mown field 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


385 


over night, and the grass will have grown up to his fetlock-joints 
the next morning ! A trooper, during the troubles in the reign 
of Charles L, travelling over Lincoln Heath, was benighted; 
espying, however, a light at a distance, he made towards it, and 
found that it proceeded from a lone house. He knocked for a 
length of time before any one appeared; at last a voice inquired, 
who it was that thus disturbed their rest ? Upon which the 
traveller replied, “a trooper belonging to the parliamentary 
forces who has lost his way.” The door was cautiously opened, 
a fagot was thrown on the dying embers, which was no sooner 
done, than he of the sword (no less a person, it is said, than the 
afterwards famous Ireton) inquired where he should put his 
horse; the host directed him to an adjoining shed, observing, 
“ That he had neither hay nor corn, but if he remained till morn¬ 
ing, some grass would be grown in a neighbouring field! ” 
“ Humph ! ” replied Ireton, who was a shrewd character, “ so, 
while your grass is growing, my steed must be starving! ” This 
was said in a particular way, which the Lincolnshire man (who 
was a royalist) perfectly understood, and in the twinkling of an 
eye produced a feed of corn. The trooper’s remark he treasured 
up, as well as his name, which he became acquainted with the 
following morning, on a foraging party joining him at that place; 
and from which circumstance originated the saying, particularly 
common in Lincolnshire, “ While the grass grows, the steed 
starves.” 

IT’S A DIRTY BIRD THAT BEFOULS ITS OWN NEST! 

This saying is from the Scotch, and it is said, takes its origin 
from the celebrated John Knox. No one was more vindictive 
against Mary Queen of Scots, than this founder of the Presby¬ 
terian tenets. The various intrigues which her enemies charged 
her with, were the constant theme of this popular reformer. 

It was on the occasion of the death of David Rizzio, at Holy- 
rood House, the residence of Henry (Darnley) and Mary, that 
this saying first emanated from the mouth of Knox, and which 
in the Scottish tongue is a common phrase to this day. It need 
scarcely be observed, that Mary was charged with an illicit in¬ 
tercourse with Rizzio, in the very house where, with her husband, 
she resided. Hence originated the cutting reproach used by the 
Scottish reformer, in allusion to the circumstance, viz., “ It’s a 
dirty bird that befouls its own nest.” 

HE MAY PAY TOO DEAR FOR HIS WHISTLE! 

This saying originated from Dr. Franklin, of cel ebrated memory. 
Proceeding to France as Charge d’Afiaires of the United States, 
the vessel which bore him passed very near a vessel of the enemy, 
when the boatswain, a bold but imprudent man, and who was very 
expert on his call , whistled a kind of threat of defiance, which he 

2c 





386 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


had no sooner done, than a shot from the maintop of the enemy 
sent him to another world ! Dr. Franklin, who was standing close 
to him, observed, with all the naivete, imaginable, “ Poor fellow ! 
he has paid dear for his whistle !” and from hence originated the 
common saying, “ He may pay too dear for his whistle! ” 

IF IT RAINS ON ST. SWITHIN’S DAY, THERE WILL BE RAIN FOR 

FORTY DAYS AFTER. 

“ St. Swithin’s day, if thou dost rain, 

For forty days it will remain: 

St. Switnin’s day, if thou be fair, 

For forty days ‘twill rain na mair.” 

In Brand’s Popular Antiquities there is a statement to the 
following purport:—In the year 865, St. Swithin, bishop of Win¬ 
chester, to which rank he was raised by king Ethelwolfe the 
Dane, dying, was canonized by the then pope. He was singular 
for his desire to be buried in the open churchyard, and not in the 
chancel of the minster, as was usual with other bishops, which 
request was complied with; but the monks, on his being cano¬ 
nized, taking it into their heads that it was disgraceful for the 
saint to be in the open churchyard, resolved to remove his body 
into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn pro¬ 
cession on the 15th of July. It rained, however, so violently on 
that day, and for forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been 
known, which made them set aside their design as heretical and 
blasphemous; and, instead, they erected a chapel over his grave, 
at which many miracles are said to have been wrought. Hence, 
reader, came the saying, “ If it rains on St. Swithin’s day, there 
will be rain for forty days after.” 

In Poor Robin’s Almanac for 1697, the saying, together with 
one of the miracles before alluded to, is noticed in 

“ In this month is St. Swithin’s day, 

On which, if that it rain, they say. 

For forty days after it will, 

Or more, or less, some rain distil. 

This Swithin was a saint, I trow. 

And Winchester’s bishop also, 

Who in his time did many a feat, 

As popish legends do repeat: 

A woman having broke her eggs 
By stumbling at another’s legs. 

For which she made a woful cry, 

St. Swithin chanced for to come by, 

Who made them all as sound, or more 
Than ever that they were before. 

But whether this were so or no 
’Tis more than you or I do know; 

Better it is to rise betime, 

And to make hay while sun doth shine, 

Than to believe in tales or lies 
Which idle monks and friars devise !” 



TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


387 


A ROWLAND FOR AN OLIVER! 

Who has not read of Charlemagne’s expedition against the 
Saracens for the recovery of the relics of the Passion 1 Those 
who have, will recollect, that if Alexander had his Bucephalus, 
Charlemagne had “ twain steeds,”* who, if they were not endowed 
with the instinctive destructiveness of the former, possessed at 
least a tractability and fidelity not to be surpassed. These were 
his Roland and his Oliver, whose qualities were so equally poised, 
that Roland was as good as Oliver, and Oliver was as good as 
Roland; and hence arose the saying, “ I’ll give you a Roland 
for your Oliveror, “ I’ll give as good as you’ll send.” 

WILKES AND FORTY-FIVE. 

“ Yv 7 ilkes and Forty-five,” originated from a pamphlet called the 
North Briton, which was written by Mr. Wilkes and his friends; 
and the forty-fifth number of which was so obnoxious, that it was 
ordered by law to be publicly burnt by the common hangman, 
before the Royal Exchange, which was the cause of much popular 
clamour for a season. John Wilkes was elected Lord Mayor of 
London in 1775. 

Foote used to relate, that on the day for celebrating Wilkes’ 
liberation, an old fish-salesman at Billingsgate, well known by 
the appellation of King Cole, invited forty-five male and female 
friends to dine at the Gun. Every thing that bore on that num¬ 
ber gave the possessor a local importance: the devil was in the 
number forty-five! 

On the occasion, there was a gigantic plum-pudding, with 
45lbs. of flour, and 45 of fruit, which was boiled the same number 
of hours, and paraded from Wapping with flags, and 45 butchers 
with marrow-bones and cleavers: 45 pigeons in pies, and 45 
apple dumplings. Each bowl of punch, said the player as he 
smacked his lips—each had 45 Seville oranges, and lemons in due 
proportions. At night there was a well-regulated riot. The 
watchmen and police interfered, and (continued the wag) 45 of 
the noisy politicians were committed to the Compter. The com¬ 
mencement of this Billingsgate row arose from 45 sailors, each 
with a wooden leg, bearing about an old besotted captain, who 
had crossed the Atlantic 45 times, who chose to quarrel with 
another drunken ass, a bankrupt stockbroker, who went roaring 
about (such was the general infatuation), “ I don’t care who 
knows it, but I’m the man who stopped for five and forty thousand 
pounds! ” 

This same old fishmonger afterwards lost a son, whom he used 
to call the staff of his old age; he consoled himself, however, in 
the mystical number, inviting 45 fishmongers to attend the 

* Some writers say Roland and Oliver were liis pages. 





388 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


funeral, liad him interred at Queenborough (smelling strong of 
fish), being 45 miles from town, paid two pounds five shillings to 
the sexton, which was the best day’s work he ever had, for 45 
tolls of the tenor bell at one shilling per toll, and to eke out the 
last consolation from the memorable 45, they mourned ninety days, 
namely, in deep mourning five-and-forty, and in halt mourning, 
forty-five! 

UNDER THE ROSE! 

That is, privately, or secretly. The rose was, it is said, sacred 
to Harpocrates, the god of silence, and therefore frequently placed 
on the ceilings of rooms destined for the receiving of guests ; 
and implying that whatever was transacted there should not be 
made public. When any one was desirous that his words should 
be confined to the breasts of those present, he prefaced his com¬ 
munications by the words, “ Remember, we are under the Rose.” 
Old German houses have a rose sculptured on the ceilings of 
banqueting-rooms. 

TO SLEEP ON IT! 

“ To sleep on it,” or, “ go to bed and sleep on it,” derives its 
origin from the following circumstance. A French soldier who, 
having lost all his money at play, wished to fight with any of his 
companions that would come out. No one accepting the chal¬ 
lenge, he threw himself down b} r the side of a tent, and went to 
sleep. Two or three hours after, it happened that another sol¬ 
dier who had met with the same fortune, was passing by the 
tent and heard the other snoring—waking him, he cried, “ Get 
up, comrade, I have lost my money as well as you; quick, draw 
your sword, and let us fight!” “Fight? we fight?” cried the 
other, rubbing his eyes; “ no, not yet, lay down a bit, and take 
a nap as I have done, and then we’ll fight as much as you 
please.” 

O, YES! 0, YES! 0, YES ! 

This cry, so well known in our courts of justice, is the old 
Norman French oyez!* oyez! oyez! signifying, hear! hear! 
hear ! When the French language was discontinued in our 
courts of law,t this portion of it remained. 

ENGLAND AND ST. GEORGE. 

This ancient battle-cry of the English was first used by Henry 
II. in Ireland. Nares, in his Glossary, observes, there is also this 
injunction to the Euglish in an old art of war: “Item, that all 
souldiers entering into battaile, assault, skirmish, or other frac¬ 
tion of armes, shall have for their common crye and word, ‘ St. 

* Norman. f See Origin of English language, &c., in courts of law. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


389 


George forward,’ or, ‘ Upon them, St. George,’ whereby the soul- 
dier is much comforted, and the enemie dismaied, by calling to 
minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name has 
so often been victorious.” 

Shakspeare so uses it in his “ Richard III.;” he makes Richmond 
conclude his address to his soldiery with, 

“Sound, drums and trumpets, bold and cheerfully, 

God and St. George, Richmond and victory.” 

# So also, Richard, after he receives the news of Stanley’s defec¬ 
tion, exclaims, 

“Advance our standards, set upon our foes! 

Our ancient word of courage, fair St. George, 

Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons ! 

Upon them!” 


MERRY IN THE HALL, WHEN BEARDS WAG ALL! 

Mr. Brand says, “ in Christmas holidays the tables were all 
spread from the first to the last; the sirloins of beef, the minced 
pies, the plumb porridge, the capons, turkies, geese, and plumb- 
puddings, were all brought upon the board; every one eat 
heartily, and was welcome, which gave rise to the proverb, 
‘ merry in the hall when beards wa^ all.’ ” 

NINE TAILORS MAKE A MAN ! 

This saying, we believe, had its origin in the following manner: 
In 1742, an orphan boy applied for alms at a fashionable tailor’s 
shop in London, in which nine journeymen were employed. His 
interesting appearance opened the hearts of the benevolent gen¬ 
tlemen of the cloth, who immediately contributed nine shillings 
for the relief of this little stranger. With this capital our youth¬ 
ful hero purchased fruit, which he retailed at a profit. Time 
passes on, and wealth and honour smile upon our young trades¬ 
man, so that, when he set up his carriage, instead of troubliug 
the Heralds’ College for his crest, he painted the above motto on 
his carriage, “ Nine tailors make a man .”—Notes and Queries , 
vol. vi. 

NOT FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE TO HIM! 

Candle-bearers preceded candle-sticks, and so did (however 
strange it may appear) chandeliers. Candlesticks did not come 
into general use until the latter end of the reign of Edward VI. 

Prior to that period, candles were held to, borne, or carried 
before, by youths expressly for that purpose. It was a situation 
Which required a tact, independent of a steady hand ; hence there 
arose a question as to the candidates’ fitness, and out of that the 
saving, “ Not fit to hold a candle to him.” 

J O’ 







390 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


SEND HIM TO COVENTRY! 

The phrase of “ sending to Coventry! ” is by some said to have 
originated in the fact, that if a soldier was found to be a coward, 
he was sent to Coventry as being a central town of England, and 
a place where he was least likely to be exposed to the terrors of 
an unfriendly army. Hutton, in his History of Birmingham, gives 
a different origin to this expression, which he says arose as fol¬ 
lows :—The day after Charles I. left Birmingham, on his march 
from Shrewsbury in 1642, the Parliamentary party seized his 
carriages, containing the royal plate and furniture, which they 
conveyed for security to Warwick Castle. They apprehended all 
messengers and suspected persons, and frequently attacked small 
parties of the Royalists, whom they sent prisoners to Coventry. 
Hence the expression respecting a refractory person, “ Send him 
to Coventry.”— Notes and Queries , vol. vi. 

IT’S AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NO ONE GOOD ! 

Antiquaries generally agree, that this phrase has a Cor¬ 
nish origin. The coast of Cornwall is, perhaps, the most 
disastrous to the mariner of any, and what makes it still more 
lamentable, the Cornish people (not even excepting the more 
intelligent classes) look upon the plunder of a wreck as a birth¬ 
right. If the wind blows hard, thousands are immediately on 
the look-out, impatient for their prey, and if any one makes the 
common-place remark, of “ It’s boisterous weather, neighbour,” 
or, “ It’s a boisterous morning; ” the very general reply is, “ It’s an 
ill wind that blows Cornwall no luck!” and from hence arose the 
common saying, “ It’s an ill wind that blows no one good.” 

WE’LL NOT CARRY COALS! 

This saying, so common in the northern counties, takes its origin 
from the following anecdote :—“Three soldiers in the 15tli cen¬ 
tury, a German, a Scot, and an Englishman, being condemned to 
be hanged in the Low Countries for plunder, their lives were 
begged—the “ benefit of clergy” * in that part of the world—by 
persons who had occasion for their services. A brickmaker 
saved the German’s life, that he might help him in his business; 
and the culprit thanked his stars. The Scot was taken by a 
brewer; and he only covenanted that he should not be compelled 
to make small beer. When the Englishman’s turn came, a collier 
appeared to demand him, dressed in the costume of the mine— 
grim, black, and sooty: the Briton looking at him for a time, 
coolly observed, that he had not been used to carry coals, and 
that the law had better take its course! hence came the saying, 

* See benefit of Clergy. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


391 


“We’ll not carry coals,” half-pro verbiallv used by Shakspeare, 
and others, to signify the utterer would not put up with indignity. 

NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM. 

“ Ne sutor ultra crepidam,” owes its origin to this practice of 
Apelles. A shoemaker having found fault with a slipper, Apelles 
corrected the fault, which the shoemaker observing the next time 
he saw the picture, proceeded to remark upon the leg; when 
Apelles, springing from behind the canvass, desired him in wrath 
“ to stick to his last.” 

THOSE WHO HAVE GLASS HOUSES SHOULD BE CAREFUL HOW THEY 

THROW STONES. 

A great many of our phrases and sayings take their data from 
the reign of our James I., and some of them originated from that 
sapient monarch himself: this is one of them. On that monarch’s 
accession to the English throne, London swarmed with Scotch 
adventurers, who were continually hovering about the court, and 
very generally succeeded (rnaugre the obstacles that were op¬ 
posed to them by the English courtiers) in gaining the monarch’s 
favour, as well as employ. This gave great umbrage to the cheva¬ 
liers of the court, and particularly to the gay and sprightly Buck¬ 
ingham himself, the principal favourite of the king. His mansion, 
which was in St. Martin’s Fields, was famed for its multiplicity 
of windows, and was denominated by the wags of the day the 
Glass House. Buckingham, with others of his fraternity, took 
every opportunity of annoying, in the most mischievous manner, 
the poor Scotchmen; indeed, it was not confined to the court: 
they were considered intruders, consequently fair game. Mis¬ 
siles were even resorted to; among the rest, was a tin tube of a 
portable size, through which the assailants could propel with 
their mouths a small pebble or stone; it was somewhat similar 
to what the boys of the present day call a Pea-shooter. Buck¬ 
ingham not only winked at this annoyance, but with others of 
his grade adopted it; whether from want of dexterity or other¬ 
wise, it is not said, but the persecuted Caledonians found him 
out, and by the way of retribution broke his windows! The 
favourite complained to his royal master, but the wary Scot had 
been beforehand with him, and on stating his complaint, the 
monarch replied, “Those who live in glass-houses, Steenie,* 
should be careful how they throw stones.” Hence originated the 
common saying, “ Those who have glass-houses should be careful 
how they throw stones.” 

HUMBUG! 

The derivation of this word, now in such common use, is not 
generally known; but it is of Scotch origin. There was in former 

* A familiar name by which he invariably addressed Buckingham. 





392 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


years residing in the neighbourhood of the Mearns, in Scotland, 
a gentleman of landed property, whose name was Hume or 
Home; anil his estate was known as the Bogue. From the great 
falsehoods that “ Flume of the Bogue ” was in the habit of relat¬ 
ing about himself, his family, and every thing connected with 
him, it soon became customary, when persons heard any thing 
that was remarkably extravagant or absurd, to say, “That is a 
Hume o’ the Bogue.” The expression spread like wildfire over 
the whole country; and by those who did not understand the 
origin of the phrase, and applied it only to any extravagant 
action or saying, contracted it into one word, and corrupted it 
to Humbug.” 

We must define humbug. It is not naked untruth. A draper’s 
assistant, who tells a lady that a dress will wash when it will 
not, does not humbug her, he merely cheats her. But, if he per¬ 
suades her to buy a good-for-nothing muslin, by telling her that 
he has sold such another to a duchess, he humbugs her, whether 
lie speaks truly or not, He imposes an inference in favour of his 
commodity, through her large vanity upon her small mind. 
Humbug thus consists in making people deceive themselves, by 
supplying them with premises, true or false, from which by rea¬ 
son of their ignorance, weakness, or prejudice, they draw wrong 
conclusion. 


TO PAY A SHIP’S SIDE. 

From pix, pitch, distorted into poix, and pronounced pay; 
hence the expression, u Here’s the devil to pay, and no pitch 
hot!” 

WHEN ROGUES FALL OUT, HONEST MEN COME BY THEIR OWN! 

This saying originated with the great Sir Matthew Hale. A 
plaintiff and a defendant, who previous to assuming those charac¬ 
ters had rowed in the same boat, had a matter at issue tried be¬ 
fore that upright judge ; when it came out in evidence that the 
property they were contending for, had originally come into their 
possession by unjust means, and that the real owner had been 
ruined by their joint concurrence. It was then Sir Matthew 
made use of the saying, “ When rogues fall out, honest men come 
by their own.” The trial was quashed, and the right owner was 
put in possession of his property. 

THE BITER’S BIT ! 

This saying originated from Bishop Tonstall, in the reign of 
Henry VIII., who was far fonder of burning books than men, 
having employed an agent on the continent, where the bishop 
was travelling, to buy up the works of Tindal the sectarist. This 
agent was secretly a Tindalist, and communicated the circum- 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


303 


stance to Tinclal himself, who was at that period residing at 
Geneva. Tindal was highly pleased at the circumstance, for he 
had long been desirous of printing a corrected edition, but his 
poverty prevented him: he had also a quantity of the first edition 
by him, which he had now an opportunity of turning into cash. 
The agent was very industrious, and furnished the bishop with 
an immense quantity; the latter was highly pleased, paid the 
money, and had the books burnt in Cheapside. Tindal brought 
out his second edition, sent his agents to London, where he 
had many secret followers, and consequently sold many of his 
books. One of these agents was detected, and taken before the 
chancellor, who promised him a pardon on condition of his giving 
up the principal in the transaction. The man agreed, and named 
Bishop Tonstall! that in consequence of the latter having bought 
up all that he could lay his hands on of the first edition, they 
had been able to distribute a second; and which they could not 
possibly have effected without the assistance of the bishop. 
“I’faith,” exclaimed the chancellor, turning round to some of the 
council, “ I must confess the biter’s bit.” The man was pardoned, 
and the saying has continued to this day. 

A BIRD IN HAND’S WORTH TWO IN THE BUSH! 

This originated from the following circumstance: Will Somers, 
the celebrated jester to Henry VIII., happening to call at my 
Lord Surrey’s, whom he had often, by a well-timed jest, saved 
from the displeasure of his royal master, and who consequently 
was always glad to see him, was on this occasion ushered into the 
aviary, where he found my lord amusing himself with his birds. 
Will, happening to admire the plumage of a kingfisher—“By my 
Lady,” said Surrey, “ my prince of wits, I will give it you.” Will 
skipped about with delight, and swore by the great Harry he was 
a most noble gentleman. Away went Will with his kingfisher, 
telling all his acquaintance whom he met, that his friend Sur¬ 
rey had just presented him with it. Now it so happened that my 
Lord Northampton, wdio had seen this bird the day previous, just 
arrived at my Lord Surrey’s as Will Somers had left, with the in¬ 
tention of asking it of Surrey for a present to his (Northamp¬ 
ton’s) mistress. Great was his chagrin on finding the bird gone. 
Surrey, however, consoled him with saying, that “ He knew 
Somers would restore it him, on he (Surrey) promising him two 
another day.” Away went a messenger to the prince of wits, 
wdiom he found in raptures with his bird, and to whom he deli¬ 
vered his lord’s message. Great was Will’s surprise, but he was 
not to be bamboozled by even the monarch himself. “ Sirrah,” 
says he, “ tell your master that I am obliged for his liberal offer 
oftwo for one; but that I prefer one bird in the hand to two 
in the bush 1 ” Hence originated this much repeated saying. 








394 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATING! 

That James I. was a pedant is well known to all literary 
men ; but that he also professed a knowledge of the culinary art, 
may have been thought unworthy of a page in history. Buck¬ 
ingham, his favourite, was not only a regular bon vivant, but 
availed himself of his royal master's penchant as one of the means 
of securing that favour which he ultimately enjoyed. It hap¬ 
pened one day, when dining with Buckingham, that a discussion 
on the merits of various viands took place, some of the most costly 
and delicious then being before them; one of which was par¬ 
ticularly recommended by Buckingham to his Majesty as being 
superior to any other. “It may be so, Steenie,”* replied the 
king, “but the prufe of a gude thing is in the eating on’t, so here’s 
at it! ” 

THROWING A TUB TO THE WHALE. 

The Greenland vessels, and indeed the South Sea vessels, are 
sometimes (especially after stormy weather) so surrounded with 
whales, that the situation of the crew becomes dangerous. When 
this is the case, it is usual to throw out a tub in order to divert 
their attention; when the marine monsters amuse themselves in 
tossing this singular sort of a plaything into the air, to and fro, 
as children do a shuttlecock. Their attention being drawn, every 
sail is hoisted, and the vessel pursues its course to its destination. 
Hence came the saying, “ Throwing a Tub to the Whale ! ” 

THE LAWYERS’ PATRON! 

Saint Evona, a lawyer of Britain, went to Rome to entreat the 
Pope to give the lawyers a patron; the Pope replied, that he 
knew of no Saint not disposed of to some other profession. His 
Holiness proposed, however, to Saint Evona, that he should go 
round the church of St. John de Lateran blindfold, and after saying 
a certain number of ave-marias, the first saint he laid his hand 
on should be his patron. This the good old lawyer undertook, 
and at the end of his ave-marias stopped at the altar of St. Mi¬ 
chael, where he laid hold, not of the Saint, but unfortunately of 
the Devil, under the Saint’s feet, crying out, “ This is our Saint, 
let him be our patron!” Ben Jonson was once going through a 
churchyard in Surrey, and seeing some poor people weeping 
over a grave, asked one of the women why they wept. “ Oh,” 
said she, “ we have lost our precious lawyer, Justice Randall; he 
kept us all in peace, and always was so good, as to keep us from 
going to law; the best man that ever lived.” “Well,” said Ben 
Jonson, “ I will give you an epitaph to write upon his tomb:— 

“ God works wonders now and then, 

Here lies a lawyer, an honest man.” 

* A familiar name by which James used to address Buckingham. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


395 


AS MERRY AS A GREEK! 

This proverb obtained existence since the subjugation of the 
country by Mahomet II., in 1455. Patrick Gordon, in a work 
published seventy-seven years ago, thus writes—“The Greeks 
(most famous of old both for arms and arts, and every thing else 
that’s truly valuable) are so wonderfully degenerated from their 
forefathers, that instead of those excellent qualities, there is no¬ 
thing to be seen among them but the very reverse. There is, 
nevertheless, no people more jovial and merrily disposed, being 
so much given to singing and dancing that it is now become a 
proverbial saying, ‘As merry as a Greek.’” 

MERRYANDREW. 

Although Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes , has several allu¬ 
sions to Merryandrews, he does not attempt to explain the 
origin of the term. Hearne, in his Benedictus Abbas (tom. i. 
Preef. p. 50. ed. Oxon. 1735, as quoted by Warton in his English 
Poetry , vol. iii. p. 74. ed. 1840), speaking of the well-knowm Andrew 
Borde, gives it as his opinion that this facetious physician gave 
rise to the name of Merryandrew, the fool on the mountebank’s 
stage: “ ’Twas from the Doctor’s method of using such speeches 
at markets and fairs, that in after times those that imitated the 
like humorous, jocose language, were styled Merryandrews, a 
term much in vogue on our stages.” 

COCK AND BULL STORY. 

The following notice of this phrase occurs in The Universal Cha¬ 
racter, by which all the Nations in theWorld may understand one 
another’s Conceptions , reading out of one Common Writing their 
own Mother Tongues , Ac. By Cave Beck, M.A. Loud. 1657.—“ The 
Egyptians of old had a symbolical way of writing by emblems 
and pictures, w^hich might be read by other nations instructed in 
their wisdom, but was so hard to learn, and tedious in the practice, 
that letters soon justled them out of the world. Besides, most of 
their hieroglyphicks were so catachrestical (the picture showing 
one thing to the eye, and a quite different sense imposed upon it), 
that they justified the painter who drew a misshapen cock upon 
a signboard, and wrote under it ‘This is a bull.’” 

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND! 

The Diamond is the hardest substance in nature, and hence 
there is no way of grinding or polishing diamonds, but by acting 
upon them with their own powder, which is obtained by laborious 
rubbing of them one against another. Hence the phrase of “ Dia¬ 
mond cut Diamond,” so generally applied when cunning and 
dexterity come in contact. 








396 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


PUT A BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK, AND HE’LL RIDE TO THE 

DEVIL! 

A century ago, there existed in Scotland a class of privileged 
persons, or Beggars, called Blue-gowns. These itinerants were 
a very hardy race, and from the knowledge they attained of the 
country from their ramblings, were often employed as messengers. 
Every village and every mansion had its Blue-gown; the secrets 
of the laird and of his fair daughter were alike known to him. 
In every case of importance, whether to the magistracy, to the 
midwife, or to the post-office, the Blue-gown was the Mercury 
employed. Every cross-cut, bypath, and winding of the country, 
was better known to him than it was to any of the Scottish lieges; 
indeed, he was the oracle of the locality in which he vegetated, 
—the lover’s messenger, the laird’s confidant, and the gossip’s 
chronicler. His privileges were also greater than any; for what 
would get the Blue-gown reprimanded, would get another trans¬ 
ported. In his ramblings he did not always use his own 
extremities,'but would sometimes make free with a neighbour’s 
horse, or when he could not do that, would avail himself of one of 
the half-wild stragglers with which Scotland abounded at that 
period. In fact, when the Blue-gown was supposed to be in the 
north, he would be in the west; and when he was considered to 
be on some distant errand, he would suddenly make his appear¬ 
ance before the astonished parties. Of course, his knowledge of 
the cross country, and his four-legged assistant, gave him this 
celerity. Hence, when the 1 aird wanted a special messenger, Blue- 
gown was employed, and “ Put the beggar on horseback!” was 
the charge given, and whence originated the common saying,— 
“ Put a beggar on horseback, and lie will ride to the devil!” 

GRINNING LIKE A CHESHIRE CAT. 

This phrase owes its origin to the unhappy attempts of a sign 
painter of that country to represent a lion rampant, which was 
the crest of an influential family, on the sign-boards of many of 
the inns. The resemblance of these lions to cats caused them 
to be generally called by the more ignoble name. A similar 
case is to be found in the village of Charlton, between Pewsey 
and Devizes, Wiltshire. A public-house by the roadside is com¬ 
monly known by the name of The Cat at Charlton. The sign of 
the house was originally a lion or tiger, or some such animal, the 
crest of the family of Sir Edward Poore. 

HE IS GONE TO POT ! 

A tailor of Samarcand, living near the gate that led to the 
burying-place, had by his shopboard an earthen Pot hanging 






TIIE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


397 


on a nail, into which he threw a little stone when any corpse was 
carried by ; and at the end of every moon he counted the con¬ 
tents of his pot, in order to ascertain the number of the deceased. 
At length the tailor died himself; and some time after one that 
was unacquainted with his death, observing his shop to be desert¬ 
ed, inquired what was become of him. One of the neighbours 
answered, “ The tailor is gone to the Pot as well as the rest.” 

/ 

AS DRUNK AS DAVID’S SOW ! 

A common saying, which took its rise from the following cir¬ 
cumstance:—David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an alehouse 
at Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly 
resorted to by the curious: he had also a wife much addicted to 
drunkenness, for which he used sometimes to give her due cor¬ 
rection. One day, David’s wife having taken a cup too much, and 
being fearful of the consequence, turned out the sow, and laid 
down to sleep herself sober. Company coming to see the sow, 
David ushered them into the stye, saying, “ There is a sow for 
you! Did any of you ever see such another ? ”—all the while sup¬ 
posing the sow to have been there. To which some of the 
company, seeing the state the woman was in, replied, “ That it 
was the drunkennest sow that had ever been beheld—whence 
the woman was ever after called “David’s Sow.” 


MIND YOUR P’S AND Q’S. 

This expression arose from the ancient custom of hanging a 
slate behind the alehouse door, on which was written P or Q 
(i. e., Pint or Quart) against the name of each customer, according 
to the quantity which he had drunk, and which was not expected 
to be paid for till the Saturday evening, when the wages were 
settled. 

The expression so similar to schoolboys of “going tick” may 
perhaps be traced to this, a tick or mark being put for every glass 
of ale. 

GIVE US A TOAST f 

It happened on a public day at Bath, that a celebrated beauty 
of those times was in the cross-bath, and one of the crowd of her 
admirers took a glass of the water in which the fair one stood, 
and drank health to the company. There was in the place a 
gay fellow, half-fuddled, who offered to jump in, and swore, “ Tho’ 
he liked not the liquor, he would have the Toast! ” He was 
opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave foundation to the 
present honour, which is done to the lady or gentleman we men¬ 
tion in our liquors, and has ever since been called a Toast. 






398 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


CHRIST-CROSSE A. 

In Tatham’s Fancies Theater , 12mo, 1640, is a poem in praise 
of sack, wherein the following lines occur: 

“ The very children, ere they scarce can say 
Their Pater Noster, or their Christ crosse A, 

Will to their Parents prattle and desire 
To taste that Drinke which Gods doe so admire.” 

The alphabet was so designated, because in the old primers a 
cross was prefixed to it. Nares tells us that in French it was 
called Croix de par Dieu: and upon reference to Cotgrave for 
an expression for that term, we find, “ The Christ’s-cross-row ; 
or the hornbook wherein a child learns it.” 


LADY IN THE STRAW. 

The situation of a “ Lad} 7 " in the Straw” has something in it 
pleasing and dignified; she commands at once our admiration 
and respect. It has puzzled many to know from whence this 
expression took its rise; others have attributed it to, and which 
is most probably correct, the state of the blessed Mary when 
she brought forward the child Jesus in the stable. 

So late as Henry the Eighth’s time, there were directions for 
certain persons to examine every night the Straw of the king’s 
bed, “that no daggers might be concealed therein.” Again— 
formerly, when the kings of France quitted Paris to reside 
elsewhere, the straw of their beds and their chamber belonged 
to the poor of the hospital, Hotel Dieu. This anecdote proves 
that former kings of Franee were no better bedded than felons 
in the dungeons of our days. 


SHE IS IN HER WILLOWS. 


\ 


“ The Willow,” old Fuller says, “ is a sad tree, whereof such 
who have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we 
know that exiles hung up their harps upon such doleful sup¬ 
porters. The twigs hereof are physic to drive out the folly of 
children. This tree delighteth in most places, and is triumphant 
in the Isle of Ely, where the roots strengthen their banks, and the 
top affords fuel for their fire. It groweth incredibly fast, it being 
a bye-word in this county (Cambridge), that ‘ the profit by willows 
will buy the owner a horse before that by other trees will pay for 
his saddle.’ Let me add, that if greene ashe may burn before a 
queen, withered willows may be allowed to burne before a lady.” 
The old saying, “ She is in her willows,” is here illustrated; it 
implies the mourning of a female for her love. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


399 


MERRY WAKEFIELD. 

Wliat peculiar cause of mirth the town of Wakefield hath 
above others, Fuller certainly confesses he cannot tell, unless that 
it may be entitled to that epithet from its cheapness, and the 
plenty of good cheer. Grose, however, adds, “ Might it not be 
mirrie , that is, faithful Wakefield ? and allude to some event in 
the disputes between the houses of York and Lancaster. Mirrie- 
men is a term that frequently occurs in old ballads, signifying true 
or faithful men.” While again it has been suggested, that it 
derives this complimentary epithet from the reputation of that 
“ merry ” man, the Pindar of the town 

“ Of Wakefield, George a Green, whose fames so far are blown; ” 

for Bratliwaite, in his Strappado for the Divell, applies it to both 
of them, when he speaks of 

‘Merry Wakefield and her Pindar too.’” 


NEVER LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH ! 

This very familiar, and often repeated saying, takes its origin 
from a circumstance which occurred many years ago in the vici¬ 
nity of Carlisle. “ Two farmers, who had been neighbours for 
many years, and who had lived upon very friendly terms, mutually 
agreed, that which ever died first should leave to the other a 
valuable consideration, not specifying, however, what it was to 
be. The one was called Martin Timson, and the other David 
Dean. David was called away first, and bequeathed to Martin a 
favourite horse. When it was communicated to the latter, he 
manifested a great deal of disappointment, and observed, that 
“ He did expect something better than an old horse.” “ Not so old, 
neither,” said the party who had brought him the information. 
A dispute now arose about the age, and it was agreed to go to 
the stable and examine it. Martin went up to the horse’s head, 
and, in the act of opening its mouth to look at its teeth, the horse 
made a snatch and bit his nose off! A mortification in a few 
hours ensued, and strange to say, Martin followed David to the 
grave. Hence came the saying, “Never look a Gift Horse in the 
Mouth.” 

GIVE HIM A BONE TO PICK! 

This saying probably took its rise from a custom at marriage 
feasts among the poor in Sicily, when, after dinner, the bride’s 
father gives the bridegroom a bone, saying, “ Pick this bone, for 
you have undertaken to pick one more difficult.” 

I’LL SET YOU DOWN IN MY BLACK BOOK! 

The Black Book was a book kept by the English monasteries, 
in which a detail of the scandalous enormities practised were 







400 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


entered, for the inspection of visiters under Henry VIII., in 
order to blacken them, and hasten their dissolution. Hence the 
vulgar phrase, “ I’ll set you down in my Black-book.” 


« ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL.” 

This proverb had its origin in the time of Edward VI., 
when much of the lands of Saint Peter, at Westminster, were 
invaded by the great men of the Court, who therefore allowed 
somewhat out of them towards the repair of St. Paul’s Church. 
—Blount’s Dictionary. 


NO GREAT SHAKES. 

Shakes , as used in the following passage by Byron, is a vul¬ 
garism, which probably may be traced to the custom of shaking 
hands, the shake being estimated according to the value set upon 
the person giving it, and hence applied to the person. Byron 
writing to Murray, Sept. 28, 1820, says, “ I had my hands full, 
and my head too just then (when he wrote Marino Fcdiero), so 
it can be no great shakes .” 


BANYAN-DAY. 

A marine term for those days in which the sailors have no 
fresh meat; and is probably derived from the practice of the 
Banians, a caste of Hindoos, who entirely abstained from all 
animal food. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL RHYMES. 

Most of the following Rhymes upon places have been contri¬ 
buted to Notes and Queries , vols. v. and vi., and are here distri¬ 
buted under their respective counties. 

AYRSHIRE. 

Carrick for a man, 

Kyle for a cow, 

Cunninghame for butter and cheese, 

And Galloway for woo’. 


BEDFORDSHIRE. 

I, John of Gaunt, 

Do give and grant, 

To Roger Burgoyne 
And the heirs of his loin, 
Both Sutton and Potton 
Until the world’s rotten. 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


401 


BERWICKSHIRE. 

I stood upon Eyemouth Fort, 
And guess ye what I saw? 
Fairmiside and Furmintong, 
Neuhouses and Cocklaw, 

The fairy fouk o’ Fosterland, 
The witches o’ Edincran, 

The bly-rigs o’ Reston; 

But Dunse dings a. 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. 

Tring, Wing, and Ivinghoe, 

Three dirty villages all in a row, 
And never without a rogue or two. 
Would you know the reason why ? 
Leighton Buzzard is hard by. 


Tring, Wing, and Ivinghoe, all these three did go, 

For striking the Black Prince a blow. 

CORNWALL. 

Pars Corinea datur Corineo, de duce nomen 
Patria; deque viro gens Corinensis habet. 

DERBYSHIRE. 

Derbyshire born, and Derbyshire bred, 

Strong i’ the arm, and weak i’ the head. 

EDINBURGH. 

Cain, in disgrace with heaven, retired to Nod, 

A place, undoubtedly, as far from God 

As Cain could wish; which makes some think he went 

As far as Scotland, ere he pitch’d his tent; 

And there a city built of ancient fame, 

Which he, from Eden, Edinburgh did name. 

ESSEX. 

A village called Ugley, possesses the unfortunate saying :— 

Ugley church, ugley steeple; 

Ugley parson, ugley people. 


Braintree for the pure. 

And Booking for the poor; 
Cogshall for the jeering town. 
And Ivelvedon for the whore. 

GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 

Beggarly Bislev, 

Strutting Stroud, 

Hampton poor. 

And Painswick proud. 


Blest is the eye 
Betwixt Severn and Wye. 


2d 







402 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


HERTFORDSHIRE. 

They who buy a house in Hertfordshire, 
Pay three years’ purchase for the air. 

KENT. 

Sutton for mutton, 

Kirkby for beef, 

South Darne for gingerbread, 
Dartford for a thief. 


When England wrings 
Thanet sings. 


English lord, German count, and French marquis, 
A yeomen of Kent is worth them all three. 


Deal, Dover, and Harwich, 

The Devil gave his daughter in marriage; 
And, by a codicil to his will, 

He added Helvoet and the Brill. 

LANCASHIRE. 

Proud Preston, 

Poor people, 

High church, 

And low steeple. 


If Liverpool’s Good Mayor should ever be, 
Made father in his year of mayoraltee; 
Then shall be given, by the townmen free, 
A silver cradle for his fair ladye.* 

LEICESTERSHIRE. 

Mountsorrel he mounted at, 

Rodelvf he rode by, 

Onelepj he leaped o’er, 

At Birstall he burst his gall, 

And Belgrave he was buried at. 

LINCOLN. 

York was, London is, but Lincoln shall be 
The greatest city of all the three. 


Though Boston be a proud town, 
Skirbeck compasseth it round. 


Well is the man 
’Twixt Trent and Witham. 

* Mr. Thomas Littledale, the Mayor in 1852, was the last who received the 
present connected with this legendary custom, 
t Now Itothley. " + Now Wanlip. 















THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


403 


Northap rise and Grayingham fall, 
Ivirton yet shall be greater than all. 


Luddington poor people, 

Built a brick church to a stone steeple. 

NORFOLK. 

Gimmingham and Tremmingham, 

Knapton and Trunch, 

North’repps and South’repps, 

Lie all in a bunch. 

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

Dodington dovecot, Wilby hen, 

Irthlingborough ploughboys, and Wellingborough men. 

NORTHUMBERLAND. 

Rotlibury for goats’ milk, 

And the Cheviots for mutton; 

Cheswick for its cheese and bread, 

And Tynemouth for a glutton. 


Harnham was headless, Bradford breadless, 
And Shaftoe pick’d at the craw; 
Capheaton was a wee bonny place, 

But Wallington bang’d them a. 


NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 

Eaton and Taton, and Bramcote o’ th’ hill, 
Beggarly Beeston, and lousy Chilwell; 
Waterside Wilford, hey little Lenton ! 

Oh, fine Nottingham! Colwich and Snenton. 


OXFORDSHIRE. 

Stow on the Wold (Would) 
Where the wind blows cold. 


SOMERSETSHIRE. 

Sutton Long, Sutton Long, 

At every door a lump of dung: 

Some two; some three; 

It’s the dirtiest place that ever you see. 

STAFFORDSHIRE. 

Wotton under Weaver, 

Where God came never; 

Being very lonely and out of the way. 

Stanton on the stones, 

Where the Devil broke his bones. 










404 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


SURREY. 

Sutton for good mutton, 

Cheam for juicy beef; 

Croydon for a pretty girl, 

And Mitcham for a thief. 

WARWICKSHIRE. 

Piping Tebworth, Dancing Marston, 

Haunted Hillbro’, Hungry Crafton, 

Dudging Exhall, Papist Wicksford, 

Beggarly Broom, and Drunken Bedford. 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY. SCONE STONE. 

Except old saws be vain, 

And wits of wizards blind, 

The Scots in place must reign 
Where they this stone shall find. 

YORKSHIRE. 

Tliere are three little villages on the Yorkshire bank of the 
Humber, called High Paul, Low Paul, and Old Paul Town. 
Upon these three there exists the following couplet:—• 

High Paul, and Low Paul, and old Paul Town, 

There is ne'er a maid married in all Paul Town. 

The explanation is, that the church lies at about half a mile’s 
distance from the three villages. 


Pendle, Ingleborough, and Penigent, 

Are the three highest hills between Scotland and Trent. 

Or, which is more common among the poor:— 

Pendle, Penigent, and Ingleborough, 

Are the three highest hills all England thorough. 


If Brayton-bargh, and Hambleton-hough, and Burton-bream, 
Were all in thy belly, it would never be team [full]. 


When Itosberry Toppinge wears a cap, 
Let Cleveland then beware of clap. 


When Dighton is pull’d down, 
Hull shall become a greater down. 


Cleveland in the clay, 

Bring in two soles, and carries one away. 


When Sheffield-park is plough’d and sown, 
Then little England hold thine own. 










THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


405 


MISCELLANEOUS COUNTIES. 

Cornwall squab-pie, and Devon wliitepot brings, 
And Leicester beans and bacon, fit for kings. 

Ramsey, the rich of gold and of fee; 

Thorney, the flower of the fen country. 
Crowland, so courteous of meat and of drink ; 
Peterborough the proud, as all men do think. 
And Sawtrey, by the way, that old abbaye 
Gave more alms in one day than all they. 


WITCHCRAFT, SUPERSTITION, SURGERY, CRAXIOLOGY, 
CLASSICAL TERMS, &c. 


WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 

Magic was formerly studied by most persons. It was employed 
in ligatures to cure diseases; and the Visigoths used to steal the 
Sarcophagi of the dead for this purpose. But the application of 
magic was endless. There were two kinds which obtained notice 
in this country: one, that of scientific sorcery, derived from the 
Arabians in Spain, and consisting of judicial astrology, divination 
by horoscopes, cups, glasses, mirrors, swords, &c.; and the other, 
witchcraft of northern origin, implying direct communication 
with fiends. Augury formed part of the science of our Anglo- 
Saxon witches ; and it is expressly denominated the old augury. 
The Sabbath of Witches was supposed to be a nocturnal assembly 
on a Saturday, in which the devil was said to appear in the shape 
of a goat, about whom they made several dances, and performed 
magical ceremonies. They had their caldrons, into which they 
cast various ingredients, at the same time telling and making 
hideous noises:— 

“Round about the caldron go; 

In the poison’d entrails throw,— 

Toad that under the cold stone, 

Days and nights has thirty-one, 

Swelter’d venom, sleeping got, 

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot! ” 

In order to prepare themselves for this meeting, they took 
several soporific drugs; after which they were fancied to fly up 
the chimney, and to be spirited and carried through the air, 
riding on a switch, to their Sabbath assemblies. The property of 
conveyance was communicated to broomsticks, by rubbing them 
with a peculiar ointment. A cat, 

(“ Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed,”) 








406 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


an animal highly revered by the Egyptians and Romans, was a 
sine qua non; and Knighton mentions persons accused of keeping 
devils in the shape of cats. They had particular instruments 
which they used in their arts, in cure of the headache, &c. The 
Anglo-Saxon witches practised the ancient augury; they even 
retained the ancient art of divination, by cutting up victims. 

We find, that if a lover could not obtain his fair object, he 
caused her to be bewitched; that witches were brought out to 
enchant the engines of besiegers; that favour was supposed to be 
granted by witchcraft; that the practice was firmly supposed to 
be the cause of extraordinary actions, and made the subject of 
accusation from malice. In fact, the clergy made it a means of 
intimidating and governing the laity, in the manner of the 
Inquisition, by charging enemies with it, and so excommunicating 
them, and endangering their lives and property. 

We see horseshoes, owls, hawks, &c., nailed on doors. This 
was one Roman method of preventing witchcraft. Brand men¬ 
tions various other modes. The trial by immersion was an abuse 
of the cold water system. The right hand was tied to the left 
loot, and the left hand to the right foot. If they swam, they were 
strongly suspected, and exposed to the stronger trial. It would 
be utterly impossible, in a limited work like this, to give the 
contents of the two large quartos forming the “ Popular Anti¬ 
quities; ” this article, therefore, with some particular superstitions 
which will follow it, must suffice. 

DEATH WATCH. 

Among the popular superstitions, which the illumination of 
modern times has not been able to obliterate, the dread of the 
Death-watch may be considered as one of the most predominant, 
and still continues to disturb the habitations of rural tranquillity 
with absurd apprehensions. It is chiefly in the advanced state 
of spring that this little animal (for it is nothing more) commences 
its rounds, which is no other than the call or signal by which the 
male and female are led to each other, and which may be con¬ 
sidered as analogous to the call of birds, though not owing to the 
voice of the insect, but to its beating on any hard substance with 
the shield or forepart of its head. The prevailing number of 
distinct strokes which it beats is from seven to nine, or eleven, 
which very circumstance may still add in some degree to the 
ominous character it bears among the vulgar. These sounds 
or beats, which are given in pretty quick succession, are repeated 
at uncertain intervals, and in old houses, where the insects are 
numerous, may be heard almost at any hour of the day, especially 
if the weather be warm. 

^ The insect is so nearly of the colour resembling decayed wood, 
that it may for a considerable time elude the search of an 








THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


407 


inquirer. It is about a quarter of an inch in length, and is 
moderately thick in proportion; and the wing shells are marked 
with innumerable irregular variegations of a lighter or grayer 
colour than the ground colour. Such, reader, is the important 
Death-watch! 

BANSHEE. 

The word Banshee has been variously explained as the head 
of the fairies, and the white fairy ; but Dr. O’Brien in his Irish 
Dictionary writes, “ Bean-sighe, plura mna-sighe, she fairies or 
woman fairies credulously supposed by the common people to be 
so affected to certain families, that they are heard to sing woful 
lamentations about their houses at night, whenever any of the 
family labours under a sickness which is to end in death. But,” 
continues the doctor, “no families which are not of an ancient 
and noble stock are believed to be honoured with this fairy 
privilege.”—Croker’s Fairy\Legends and Traditions of the South 
of Ireland. 

MERMAID. 

The “ British Chronologist” informs us, that a fish resembling 
a man was, in the year 1205, taken off the coast of Suffolk, and 
was kept alive for six months! The Mermaids were in former 
times considered as the agents of witches, and were employed in 
divers errands to the watery deep. The term is derived from 
Mere , a lake, water, or sea. For instance, there is Wittlesea-Mere 
in Cambridgeshire, and Winder-Mere in Cumberland. The 
following Information Extraordinary will perhaps prove interest¬ 
ing to the reader:—“ The Lords of the Admiralty, it is said, have 
lately received proposals (accompanied with an accurate model, 
which fully explains the idea) for introducing an entire new 
invention, by which those extra-rare marine productions—Mer¬ 
maids and Mermen, may be taken alive. The machine is a sort 
of floating Gin-trap, which is to be baited with a Comb, mechani¬ 
cally attached to a Mirror, or Looking-glass! The projector 
proposes, when a sufficient number of either sex shall be taken, 
that a nautical academy shall be established in one of the sea¬ 
ports, wherein an attempt may be made to give them so much of 
a marine education, on the Lancasterian plan, as may render 
them highly serviceable to the British Navy. The men to be 
distributed among the guard-ships; and the maids to attend and 
keep clean the Telegraph-houses, light the fires in the Light¬ 
houses, and snuff the lights on the floating beacons. In case of 
good behaviour, they are to be indulged occasionally with liberty 
to visit their relations and friends. As the latter part of the 
proposed services are more immediately under the direction of 
the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, their Lordships have 
been pleased to promise to commune with that honourable body 
on so promising a scheme! ” 






408 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


BROWNIES. 

Some have compared this class of imaginary beings (states 
Armstrong’s Gaelic Dictionary), to the satyrs of the ancients; 
but without reason, since they had no disposition or point of 
character in common, excepting a fondness for solitude, which the 
Brownie possesses only at certain seasons of the year. About 
the end of the harvest he became more sociable, and hovered 
about farm-yards, stables, and cattle-houses. He had a particular 
fondness for the products of the dairy, and was a fearful intruder 
on milkmaids, who made regular libations of milk or cream to 
charm him off, or to procure his favour. He could be seen only 
by those who had the second sight; yet I ha ve heard of instances 
where he made himself visible to those who were not so gifted. 
He is said to have been a jolly, personable being, with a broad 
blue bonnet, flowing yellow hair, and a long walking-staff. Every 
manor-house had its uruisg , or brownie, and in the kitchen, close 
by the fire, was a seat which was left unoccupied for him. The 
house of a proprietor on the banks of the Tay is, even at this day, 
believed to have been haunted by this sprite, and a particular 
apartment therein has been for centuries called brownie’s room. 
When irritated through neglect, or disrespectful treatment, he 
would not hesitate to become wantonly mischievous. He was, 
notwithstanding, rather gainly and good-natured than formidable. 
Though, on the whole, a lazy lounging hobgoblin, he would often 
bestir himself in behalf of those who understood his humours, 
and suited themselves thereto. When in this mood, he was known 
to perform many arduous exploits in the kitchen, barn, and stable 
(nec cernitur ulli), with marvellous precision and rapidity. These 
kind turns were done without bribe, fee, or reward, for the offer 
of any of these would banish him for ever. Kind treatment was 
all that he wished for, and it never failed to procure his favour. 

In the northern parts of Scotland, the brownie’s disposition was 
more mercenary. Brand, in his description of Zetland, observes, 
that “ not above forty or fifty years ago almost every family had 
a brownie, or evil spirit so called, which served them, to which 
they gave a sacrifice for his service; as when they churned their 
milk, they took a part thereof, and sprinkled every part of the 
house with it, for brownie’s use; likewise, when they brewed, 
they had a stone, which they called ‘ brownie’s stane,’ wherein 
there was a little hole, into which they poured some wort for a 
sacrifice to brownie. 

“ They also had stacks of corn, which they called ‘ brownie’s 
stacks,’ which, though they were not bound with straw, or any 
way fenced, as other stacks used to be, yet the greatest storm of 
wind was not able to blow any straw off them. 

“ The brownies seldom discoursed with man, but they held fre¬ 
quent and affectionate converse with one another. 





THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


409 


“ Tliey had their general assemblies, too; and on these occasions 
they commonly selected for their rendezvous the rocky recesses 
of some remote torrent, whence their loud voices, mingling with 
the water’s roar, carried to the ears of wondering superstition 
detached parts of their unearthly colloquies.” 

SPITTING! 

Spitting, according to Pliny, was superstitiously observed in 
averting witchcraft, and in giving a shrewder blow to an enemy. 
Hence seems to be derived the custom our bruisers have of 
spitting in their hands, before they begin their fight. Several 
other vestiges of the superstition relative to fasting spittle {Fas- 
cinationes saliva jejuna repelle veteri superstitione creditum est. 
Alex, at Alex.), mentioned also in Pliny, may yet be traced among 
our vulgar. Boys have a custom (inter se ) of spitting their faith 
when required to make asseverations in a matter of consequence. 
In combinations of the colliers, &c., in the north, for the purpose 
of raising their wages, they are said to spit upon a stone together, 
by way of cementing their confederacy. We have, too, a kind 
of popular saying, when persons are of the same party, or agree 
in sentiments, “ They spit on the same stone.” 

THE HOUSE LEEK 

Was also common in witchcraft, and it is usual even now, in 
the north of England, to plant it upon the top of cottage houses. 
The learned author of Vidgar Errors informs us, that it was an 
ancient superstition, and this herb was planted on the tops of 
houses as a defensative against lightning and thunder.— Quin¬ 
cunx, 126. 

CITRON. 

“ Nor be the citron, Media’s boast, unsung, 

Though harsh its juice, and lingering on the tongue. 

When the drug’d bowl, ’mid witching curses brew’d, 

Wastes the pale youth by stepdame hate pursued, 

Its powerful aid unbinds the mutter’d spell, 

And frees the victim from the draught of Hell.” 

Sotheby’s Virgils Georgies. 

The juice of the citron was used by the ancients as an antidote 
to and against poison: hence it became esteemed as a preventive 
to the effects of witchcraft; at least when the bewitched party 
were supposed to have imbibed poison, or any deleterious drug, 
through the agency of witches. In our day the juice of the citron 
is used in chemistry, and is called Citric Acid. 

WATER ORDEAL. 

It was formerly a custom in several countries to weigh those 
that were suspected of magic, it being generally imagined that 







410 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


sorcerers were specifically lighter than other men. This was the 
origin of the practice of throwing the accused person into water; 
when, if his body floated upon the surface, he was convicted of 
witchcraft and burnt, but if it sunk to the bottom he was ac¬ 
quitted.* M. Ameilhon has published a curious paper in the 
37th vol. of the Memoirs of the Royal Academy on this particular 
subject, in which he endeavours to show the probability, that 
some of these miserable persons did actually float on the water. 
He states, that among the multitude of persons subject to hysteria, 
and other similar complaints, there are several who cannot sink in 
the water; and hence he concludes that the pretended magicians 
and sorcerers who floated when tried by the water ordeal, were 
persons deeply affected with nervous disorders. Pomme, the 
celebrated French physician, in his Trait 2 des Affections Va¬ 
pour euses, supports the same opinion. 

DISSECTION. 

The first Author who is said to have written on anatomy is 
Hippocrates, and the first recorded dissection was probably made 
by his contemporary Democritus, a philosopher of Abdera, 
who, while dissecting a brute, was surprised by Hippocrates, 
who expressed himself greatly astonished that his friend could 
be guilty of so base an action, as it was considered nothing less 
than a contempt of the works of the Deity. Hippocrates added, 
that it was fortunate no other person witnessed his impiety. 
This is said to have taken place about the year 400 b.c. 


CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 

The celebrated Harvey, in the year 1628, published his dis¬ 
cover}^ of the circulation of the blood, which was of the most 
importance to physic of any that was ever made, and acquired 
him an immortal name. Nevertheless there are others who 
contend for the glory of this important discovery. Leonicenus 
says, that Fran. Paoli Sarpi, a Yenetian, discovered the circulation, 
but durst not publish his discovery for fear of the Inquisition; 
that he therefore only communicated the secret to Fab. ab Aqua- 
pendente, who, after his death, deposited the book he had com¬ 
posed on it in the library of St. Mark, where it lay a long time, 
till Aquapendente discovered the secret to Harvey, who then 
studied under him at Padua, and who, upon his return to England, 
a land of liberty, published it as his own. But Sir George Ent 
has shewn, that Father Paul received the first notion of the 
circulation of the blood from Harvey’s book on that subject, which 
was carried to Venice by the ambassador of the republic at the 

* See Dead Sea. 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


411 


court of England. As a benefactor of mankind, he is, as Hume 
proceeds, “ entitled to the glory of having made, by reasoning 
alone, without any mixture of accident, a capital discovery in one 
of the most important branches of science. He had also the 
happiness of establishing at once this theory on the most solid 
and convincing proofs; and posterity has added little to the 
arguments suggested by his industry and ingenuity. His treatise 
of the circulation of the blood is farther embellished by that 
warmth and spirit which so naturally accompany the genius of 
invention. This great man was much favoured by Charles I., 
who gave him the liberty of using all the deer in the royal forests 
for perfecting his discoveries on the generation of animals. It 
was remarked that no physician in Europe, who had reached forty 
years of age, ever, to the end of his life, adopted Harvey’s doctrine 
of the circulation of the blood, and that his practice in London 
diminished extremely, from the reproach drawn upon him by that 
great and signal discovery. So slow is the progress of truth in 
every science, even when not opposed by factious or superstitious 
prejudices. He died in 1657, aged 79. As to the velocity of the 
circulating blood, and the time wherein the circulation is com¬ 
pleted, several computations have been made. By Dr. Keil’s 
account, the blood is driven out of the heart into the aorta with 
a velocity which would carry it twenty-five feet iu a minute ; but 
this velocity is continually abated in the progress of the blood, 
in the numerous sections or branches of the arteries, so that, 
before it arrive at the extremities of the body, its motion is 
infinitely diminished. The space of time wherein the whole mass 
of blood ordinarily circulates, is variously determined; some state 
it thus,—Supposing the heart to make two thousand pulses in an 
hour, and that at every pulse there is expelled an ounce of blood, 
as the whole mass of blood is not ordinarily computed to exceed 
24 pounds, it must be circulated seven or eight times over in the 
space of an hour. The quantity of blood taken in the heart, and 
expelled therefrom into arteries, by successive pulsations, in the 
course of 24 hours, has been lately estimated by Dr. Kidd at 24f 
hogsheads in an ordinary man, and 8000 hogsheads in a large 
whale. So that the whole mass of blood in such a man, reckoning 
at 55 pints, passes 288 times through his heart daily, or once in 
five minutes, by 375 pulsations, each expelling about 1^ oz. of 
blood, or about three table-spoonsful in a minute. 


CRANIOLOGY, Ac. 

The origin of this art is attributed by an author who has lately 
published a dissertation upon the subject, to one John Rohan de 
Retham, who published a tract thereon in the year 1500. That 
the modern discovery is about 300 years too late, is, he tells us, 
evident from this tract. The terms in both are the same, 





412 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


generally ending in iva. The local seats of the mind are as 
determinately indicated in each. The ancient German speaks of 
the cellula imaginativei, celiula communis sensus, cellula estimativa, 
seu cogitativa, et rationalis , cellula rnemorativa , &c. The fable is, 
therefore, as obsolete as it is absurd; and presents but the “ or¬ 
ganic remains” of a craniology exploded more than 300 years ago. 

Donna Olivia Sabuco de Nantes, a native of Alcarez, possessed 
an enlightened mind. She had a knowledge of physical science, 
medicine, morals, and politics, as her writings abundantly testify. 
But what contributed the most to render her illustrious, was her 
new physiological system, which was contrary to the notions of 
the ancients. She established the opinion, that it is not the blood 
which nourishes the human body. This system, which Spain did 
not at first appreciate, was warmly embraced in England, and we 
now receive, says the Spanish writer, from the hands of strangers 
as their invention, what was, strictly speaking, our own. Fatal 
genius of Spain! before any thing to which thou givest birth 
can be deemed valuable, it must be transferred to strangers. It 
appears that this great woman assigned the brain as the only 
dwelling for a human soul; in this opinion Descartes afterwards 
coincided, with this difference only, that she conceived the whole 
substance of the brain to be the abode of the soul, and he confined 
it to the pineal gland. The confidence of Donna Olivia in her 
own opinions was so great, and her determination in vindicating 
them so powerful, that in her dedicatory letter to the Count de 
Barajas, President of Castile, she entreated him to exercise all 
his authority among the learned naturalists and medical men in 
Spain, to convince them that their heresies were inaccurate, 
and she could prove it. She flourished in the reign of Philip II. 

ST. VITUS’S DANCE. 

It is related, that after St. Yitus and his companions were 
martyred, their heads were enclosed in a church wall, and 
forgotten; so that no one knew where they were until the church 
was repaired, when the heads were found and the church bells 
began to sound of themselves, and those who were there to dance , 
and their bodies to undergo strange contortions, and which 
circumstance has since supplied a name to a disorder peculiar to 
the human frame, known by “ St. Vitus’s Dance.” 


SMALLPOX. 

The first who introduced inoculation into Europe was 
Immanuel Timonis, a Greek physician at Constantinople, who 
voluntarily communicated the art to the universities of Oxford 
and Padua, of which he was a member. 






THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


413 


VACCINATION. 

For the discovery of this great blessing we are indebted to the 
late Dr. Francis Jenner, of the city of Gloucester, to whom a 
monument is erected in St. Paul’s Cathedral. 

GREY HAIR. 

The Medical Adviser states —“ Some hypothetical, among 
whom is a modern periodical, confidently assert, that the cause 
of Grey Hair is a contraction of the skin about the roots of it, 
and from this cause suppose that polar animals become white; 
the cold operating as a contracting power. If this argument 
were true, we should be all grey if we happened to be exposed 
to a hard frost! There are fewer grey people in Russia than in 
Italy or Arabia; for the Russians, having more generally light- 
coloured hair, do not so often or so soon feel the effects of the 
grizzly fiend as those whose hair is black or dark. Cold, there¬ 
fore, is nonsense; it assuredly cannot be contraction at the roots 
of the hairs. Has not the hair of individuals labouring under 
certain passions become grey in one night 1 ? Were these suffering 
from cold 1 ? rather, were they not burning with internal feeling ? 
Sudden fright has caused the hair to turn grey; but this, as well 
as any other remote cause, can be freed .from the idea of operat¬ 
ing by cold or contraction. 

“ Our opinion is, that the vis vitae is lessened in the extreme 
ramifications of those almost imperceptible vessels destined to 
supply the hair with colouring fluid. The vessels which secrete 
this fluid cease to act, or else the absorbent vessels take it away 
faster than it is furnished. This reason will bear argument; for 
grief, debility, fright, fever, and age, all have the effect of lessen¬ 
ing the power of the extreme vessels. It may be said in argument 
against this opinion, that if the body be again invigorated, the 
vessels ought, according to our reasoning, to secrete again the 
colouring fluid; but to this we say, that the vessels which secrete 
this fluid are so very minute, that upon their ceasing their func¬ 
tions they become obliterated, and nothing can ever restore them.” 

LIVER COMPLAINTS IN INDIA. 

Most people, says the Medical Adviser , suppose that it is the 
heat of the climate in the East Indies that produce so many liver 
complaints: this is not alone the cause; the Brazils are much 
hotter, yet these diseases are not by any means so frequent. 
It is also supposed that free living is the cause, but is refuted by 
the fact, that mere water-drinkers will be affected in common 
■with wine- bibbers, and dogs that go from Europe to India will, 
in the same profusion of numbers as men, contract a disease of 





414 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


the liver. The opinion of the natives is, that this formidable 
complaint is occasioned by the quality of the water, and with 
this opinion we agree. People going to India should look to this 
point; they should boil the water which is for drink, and then 
filter it. 

ANATOMICAL WAX FIGURES. 

Mademoiselle de Beheron, the daughter of a Parisian surgeon, 
was the first who invented Anatomical Figures of Wax and 
Bags. She modelled her imitations upon corpses, and they were 
executed with such perfection, that Sir William Pringle on seeing 
them said, “ They wanted nothing but the smell.’ 

LAW ON ANATOMY. v 

It is said, that the earliest law enacted in any country for the 
promotion of anatomical knowledge, was passed in 1540. It 
allowed the United Company of “ Barber-Surgeons” to have 
yearly the bodies of four criminals to dissect. 

GOLDEN AGE. 

The Golden Age, which we often have heard of, is an allusion 
to the era when the then known world was under the dominion 
of a single master: and this state of felicity continued during the 
reigns of five successive princes, viz., Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and 
the two Antonini. Mankind was never so happy, and it was the 
only Golden Age which ever had an existence (unless in the 
warm imagination of the poets), from the expulsion from Eden 
down to this day. 

EPOCHS AND ERAS. 

Terms which constantly recur in history, and the elucidation 
of which belongs to the province of chronology. An epoch is a 
certain point, generally determined by some remarkable event, 
from which time is reckoned; and the years computed from that 
period are denominated an Era. The birth of Christ is con¬ 
sidered an Epoch—the years reckoned from that event are called 
the Christian Era. 

PROMETHEAN FIRE. 

Prometheus was the son of Japetas, and brother of Atlas, con¬ 
cerning whom the poets have feigned, that, having first formed 
men of earth and water, he stole fire from heaven to put life 
into them; and that, having thereby displeased Jupiter, he com¬ 
manded Yulcan to tie him to Mount Caucasus with iron chains, 
and that a vulture should prey upon his liver continually. 
Hercules killed the eagle, and thus set him at liberty. Bochart 









THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


415 


will have Magog in the Scripture to be the Prometheus of the 
Pagans. From the above came the term “ Promethean Fire.” 
He was the author of all the arts among the Greeks. 

STENTORIAN LUNGS. 

When any one declaims with a stronger voice than usual, we 
are apt to say, he possesses “ Stentorian Lungs,” or, he has a 
“ Stentorian Voice.” The term is derived from Stentor, a herald 
of the Greeks in the Trojan war, who had as loud a voice (accord¬ 
ing to Heathen Mythology) as fifty men. 

AUGEAN STABLE. 

Augeas, a King of Elis, had a stable which would hold three 
thousand oxen, and had not been cleansed for thirty years. He 
hired Hercules to clean it in one day, which he did by turning 
the river Alpheus through it; but when he had finished, Augeas 
refused to keep his promise of giving him a tenth part of his 
herd. Thereupon Hercules killed him and all his family, with 
the exception of his son Phyleus, who was placed on the throne 
of his father. Hence is derived the classical quotation of “ the 
Augean Stable.” 

GORDIAN KNOT. 

This term, also used by classical speakers, is derived from 
Gordius, the son of a husbandman, and afterwards King of 
Phrygia, remarkable for tying a Knot of Cords, on which the 
empire of Asia depended, in so intricate a manner, that Alexander, 
unable to unravel it, cut it with a sword. 

THE PALLADIUM. 

This term, so often used in oratory—for instance, “ The Palla¬ 
dium of our Liberties”—is derived from a wooden image of Pallas, 
Athena, Minerva, called Palladium, whose eyes seemed to move. 
The Trojans affirmed, that it fell from heaven into an uncovered 
temple; they were told by the oracle, that Troy could not be 
taken whilst that image remained there, which being understood 
by Diomedes and Ulysses, they stole into the Temple, surprised 
and slew the keepers, and carried away the image; the destruc¬ 
tion of the city soon followed. 

HARVEST MOON. 

About the time of the autumnal equinox, the moon, when 
near her full, rises about sunset a number of nights in succession: 
this occasions a remarkable number of brilliant moonlight even- 






416 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


ings; and as tliis is in England the period of harvest, the pheno¬ 
menon is called the harvest moon. The sun being then in Libra, 
and the moon, when full, being of course opposite to the sun, or 
in Aries; and moving eastwards, in or near the ecliptic, at the 
rate of about thirteen degrees per day, would descend but a small 
distance below the horizon for four or six days in succession; j 
that is, for two or three days before, and the same number of 
days after, the full; and would, consequently, rise during all 
these evenings nearly at the same time, namely, a little before, 
or a little after, sunset, so as to afford a remarkable succession of 
fine moonlight evenings. 

PARNASSIAN SPRING. 

The Parnassian or Castalian Spring, a term well known to the 
lovers of poetry, is derived from a nymph called Castalia, who 
resided in Parnassus, and whom Apollo metamorphosed into a 
fountain; and those who drank of the waters were inspired with 
the Genius of Poetry. 

SONS OF ESCULAPIUS. 

This term, or cognomen, as applied to medical men, is derived 
from the Heathen Mythology, which informs us that “ iEscula- 
pius was a son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis; and that the 
care of his education was committed to Chiron, who taught him 
Physic, wherein he was said to be exceedingly skilful.” 

ORIGIN OF LITERARY DEGREES. 


The practice of conferring the honours of literary institutions 
on individuals of distinguished erudition, commenced in the 
twelfth century, when the Emperor Lothaire, having found in 
Italy a copy of the Eoman law, ordained that it should be 
publicly expounded in the schools; and, that he might give 
encouragement to the study, he further ordered that the public 
professors of this law should be dignified with the title of Doctors. 
The first person created a Doctor after this ordinance of the 
Emperor was Bulgarius Hugolinus, who was greatly distinguished 
for his learning and literary labour. Not long afterward, the 
practice of creating doctors was borrowed from the lawyers by 
divines also ; in their schools they publicly taught divinity, and 
conferred degrees on those who had made great proficiency in 
that science. The plan of conferring degrees in divinity was 
first adopted in the Universities of Bologne, Oxford, and Paris. 
—(See Mather’s Magnolia Christi Americana , book iv. p. 134.) 
It is remarkable that the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson, when 
he had become eminent in literature, could not obtain the degree 
of Master of Arts from Trinity College, Dublin, though powerful 








TI1E ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


417 


interest "was made in his behalf for this purpose by Mr. Pope, 
Loid Grower, and others. Instances of the failure of similar 
applications, made in favour of characters still more distinguished 
than Johnson then was, are also on record. So cautious and 
reserved were literary institutions, a little more than half a 
century ago, in bestowing their honours! 


ETYMONS OE SEVERAL WORDS AND TERMS. 


ADORE. 

Is derived from adorare , and this from ados, a respectful mode 
of salutation, by carrying the hAnd to the mouth. 

ALLODIAL. 

Allodial, or free lands, is derived from odhal, implying free¬ 
holds in Norway, the first being a transposition of the syllables 
of the latter; hence, fee-odh, feodum, feudal, denoting stipendiary 
property,—a fee being a stipend. 

AMAZON. 

The Amazons were a warlike women, and derived their name, 
says Heathen Mythology, from the Amazon river in Asia, which 
flowed through a territory they inhabited. They are said to 
have had bloody wars with their neighbours; but were at length 
almost destroyed by Hercules. 

adieu ! 

Adieu, although admitted into the English vocabulary, is 
nevertheless a French word; of course signifying, farewell: it is 
from ad Deum te commendo , i. e.,I commend you to God 

“ An adieu should be heard in a sigh, 

If the tongue pours not on the ear: 

If utter’d at all—on the lips it should die, 

If written—be quench’d by a tear.” 


ALKALI. 

This term, so often made use of by chemists, is of Arabian 
origin, and is derived from kali , the name of a species of vegetable, 








418 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


from which soda is generally extracted. If we believe Albertus 
Magnus, the word signifies fcex amaritudinis, the dregs of bitter¬ 
ness, the particle al having, as he says, been added by the Arabs, 
with the design of expressing the superiority of the article 
obtained from that plant, over the plant itself. 

) 

ALLIGATOR. 

Our dictionaries supply no materials towards the etymology of 
this word, which was probably introduced into the language by 
some of our own early voyagers to the Spanish and Portuguese 
settlements in the newly discovered world. They would hear 
the Spaniards discoursing of the animal by the name of el lagarto , 
or, the lizard; Lat. lacerta; and on their return home they 
would inform their countrymen, that this sort of crocodile was 
called an alligator. It would not be difficult to trace other 
corrupted words in a similar way. 

ANGEL. 

Angel in its primitive sense signifies a messenger, and fre¬ 
quently signifies men when, from the common notion of the term, 
it is conceived to denote ministering spirits. Angels, as celestial 
intelligences, have been the objects of over-curious inquiry, and 
of worship. Paul says, “ Let no man beguile you of your reward, 
in a voluntary humility, and the worshipping of angels, intruding 
into those things he hath not seen.”— Colossiam xi. 17. 

APRON. 

Napery is defined by Skinner, Linteaminta domestica; and the 
word apron , notes Whitaker (Craven,. p. 232), has plainly lost a 
letter, probably by a mistake in dividing it from the prefix 
A Naperoun , or an apron. In 1388, the Prior and Convent of 
Durham made a life-grant of the office of Keeper of the Napry 
in the Hostillar’s Hall.— (Hist. Dunelm. Scrip. Tres. p. clviii.) 


ARAB. 

The Arabs trace their descent from Ishmael, the son of Abra¬ 
ham and Hagar. Ihese children of the tent have always pre¬ 
served their ancient name, for the word Arab signifies a robber, 
and robbers the Arabians always were, and still remain so. 

ARTICHOKE. 

The English name of this vegetable is a corruption of its 
Arabic name, Karchiof— as the Jerusalem Artichoke is a cor- 







419 


TIIE ETYMOLOfcgCAL COMPENDIUM. 

ruption of the Italian Girasole , or Sun-flower. When this vege¬ 
table was first introduced into this country by Mr. John Calleron, 
he asked a party to dine, and giving one to a gentleman greatly 
skilled in the vegetable kingdom to eat, be began to devour the 
leaves at the wrong end, which occasioned some of the company 
to laugh immoderately. The gentleman observing his mistake, 
said, “ Well, I am happy as long as the error has occasioned a 
hearty laugh.” “Yes,” replied Mr. Calleron, “and egad I think 
also, it has been a hearty joke /” 

BACHELOR. 

Dr. Johnson, after noticing various proposed derivations of 
this word, concludes, the most probable one seems to be from 
bacca laurus; bachelors being young are of good hopes, like 
laurels in the berry. 

BANTAMS. 

The small fowl, designated by the name of Bantam, derives 
its appellation from Bantam, in the Isle of Java; and was 
first introduced into this country in 1683, when an embassy 
arrived in England from thence. 

BEVERAGE. 

This term, as applied to everyday potations, is derived from 
the Italian, bevere, to drink. 

BEEVER, OR BEEVOR. 

“ He wore his Bevor up.” 

The term Beever, or Bevor, as worn by the knights of old’ 
says Dr. Meyrick, was so called in contradistinction to the 
1 common vizor, and is derived from the Italian bevere, to drink. 
The knights, when thirsty, in the absence of a proper vessel, 
drank from their Bevor. 

BELLEROPHON. 

As this vessel, or ship of war, will have a place in history, 
as being that which received “ Le Grand Nation’s” fallen 
emperor as a prisoner, when he surrendered to the British 
nation ; it is thought the derivation of the name may not be 
unacceptable. 

Bellerophon, son of Glaucus and Eurymedes, had the misfortune 
to kill his brother Pyrrhus as he was hunting, upon which he 
took refuge * with Proetus, king of Argos, whose wife, Stenobia, 

*« I throw myself on the generosity of the British nation.” 

Napoleon s Letter to the Prince Regent. 







420 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


made him offers, which he rejected. She, stung with indifference, 
accused him to her husband of attempting her chastity, on account 
of which he underwent numberless misfortunes. 

There is somewhat of an affecting coincidence between the 
mythological circumstance which gave a name to the ship, and 
the extraordinary man who became its inhabitant for a period, 
which cannot fail to strike the most indifferent reader; and 
especially those who were his ardent admirers. 


BLOOD. 

The word blood is derived from the Saxon Mod. The month 
of November was called by the Saxons blot-monath, because in 
this month they killed great abundanceof cattle for winter store; 
or, according to some, for purposes of sacrifices to their deities. 

BOH! 

Fosbroke says that this word, used to frighten the children, 
was the name of Boh, a great general, the son of Odin, whose very 
appellation struck immediate panic in his enemies. 

BENEVOLENCE AND BENEFICENCE. 

Benevolence and beneficence are ordinarily used as synonymous; 
a little attention, however, to the root, or rather roots, whence 
each has its rise, will serve to show that the difference is great, 
and that it is highly improper to place the one instead of the 
other. Benevolence is compounded of bene volo , I wish well; 
beneficence of bene facio , I do well; and if, therefore, wishing 
well, and doing well, are not one and the same act, the words 
benevolent and beneficent are expressive of two different and 
distinct actions, one of the mind, the other of the body. 


BAYONET. 

The side-arms used by infantry, and called Bayonets, are thus 
denominated because they were first made at Bayonne, in France. 

BOTHER. 

“ Don’t bother me,” or, do not annoy me at both ears; hence 
the corrupted word, bother. 


BUMPER. 

Bumper is a corruption of bon pere , good father, i. e., the Pope, 
whose health was always drank by the monks, after dinner, in 
a full glass. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


421 


CLOACINA. 

Cloacina was a goddess, whose image Tatius, a king of the 
Sabines, found in the common shore, and he on that called it, i. e. 
the common shore, the “ Temple of Cloacina.” 

CAROL. 

We have our “Christmas Carols;” few, perhaps, know the 
derivation of the word. Bourne says, carol is derived from can - 
tare , to sing, and rola, an interjection of joy. 

\ 

CARAVAN. 

It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that a caravan 
in the Eastern world signifies a number of merchants travelling- 
in company. This they do in order to defend themselves against 
the Arab robbers, which they could not do singly, or in small 
parties; likewise, to render one another assistance in passing the 
Great Desert, should they be overtaken by the overwhelming 
seas of sand; as well as to assist each other, in case of their beasts 
of burden being overcome by fatigue and thirst. The word 
caravan is derived from the Turkish term kervan , which signifies 
a number of persons assembled to journey together. 

i 

% 

CHRISTMAS.- 

In most Celtic languages Christmas Eve is called the Night 
of Mary. It is still observed with great pomp in the Isle of Man, 
the peasants vying with each other in bringing tapers to church, 
and in singing carols there. The festival itself is variously named. 
Our own Christmas comes nearest to the German provincialism, 
Christ fest. The Romance languages merely retain the Latin 
name, the French deviating from it most widely in Noel. The 
Welsh Nadolig is from the same source. The German Weih- 
nachten has been derived from Wein, as if expressing the festal 
character of the day. But it is clearly from the inseparable 
compound Weih, which denotes sanctity or holiness, and occurs 
so often in German ecclesiastical words. Its composition with 
the word night rather than day, is referable to the morning mass, 
with which the solemnity so beautifully begins. In Portugal, 
Pascoa , as the proper term for Easter, is by an easy corruption 
applied also to the two other great festivals. Christmas is there¬ 
fore Pascoa do natal. 

CIVILATION. 

Civilation is a modern word, and in polite slang is equivalent 
to “ elevation,” or the quality of being tearfully tipsy. It is used 



422 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


in this sense in Dr. Maginn’s poem of Daniel O’Rourke, iv. 35. 
Dan in difficulties, and on the moon:— 

“ Said he, ‘ ’Tis certain that I was not right 
To get into this state of civilation .’ ” 

The word is italicised, and explained in a note: u A cant phrase 
in Cork for a state of intoxication. A worthy orator of ours, who 
had taken a glass or two too much, was haranguing at a debating 
society on the state of Ireland before the English invasion, and 
the whole harangue was this: ‘ Sir, the Irish had no civilation, 
civization, civilation I mean.’ Finding, however, his efforts to 
get civilization out impracticable, he sat down with the satisfac¬ 
tion of having added a new word to our language. Every 
drunken man ever since is here said to be in a state of civilation. 


COLDSTREAM GUARDS. 

Coldstream, a town of Scotland, in Berwickshire. Here General 
Monk first raised the Coldstream Regiment of Guards, with 
which he marched into England to restore Charles II. It is 
seated on the Tweed, over which is a handsome bridge, thirteen 
miles south-west of Berwick. 

COSSACK. 

Cossacks are a people that live near Poland; other tribes of the 
Russian empire are also so denominated. This name was given 
them for their extraordinary nimbleness; for Cosa , or Kosa, in 
the Polish tongue signifies a goat. He that would know more 
of them, may read “ La Laboreur,” and “ Thuldenus.” 

COACH. 

The word Coach is derived from the village of Kotzi, near 
Presburg, in Hungary, where those vehicles were first made. 

CRITIC. 

The word critic is of Greek derivation, and implies judgment. 
It is presumed from the labours of modern critics, that some who 
have not understood the original, and have seen the English 
translation of the primitive, have concluded that it meant judg¬ 
ment in the legal sense, in which it is frequently used as equivalent 
to condemnation. Many of these may well exclaim, 

“Critiques I read on other men, 

And Hypers upon them agen; 

On twenty books I give opinion, 

Yet what is strange—I ne'er look in one.” 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


423 


CAPUCHIN. 

The monks of the order of Capuchin, took their title from 
wearing a cap tied under the chin —per crasin et elisionem, cap- 
u-chin. 


CONSTELLATION. 

The term constellation, as applied to the heavenly bodies, is 
derived from the Latin, con, together, and Stella, a star. 

CANDIDATE. 

It was the custom, while the Roman republic subsisted in full 
vigour, for the candidates for high offices to appear on the day of 
election in long white robes; intimating by this, that their cha¬ 
racters likewise ought to be pure and unsullied. Hence the origin 
of our word candidate from candidus, white, pure, sincere, upright, 
&c. In the Roman commonwealth, we are told, they w T ere ob¬ 
liged to wear a white gown during the two years of their 
soliciting for a place. The garment, according to Plutarch, they 
wore without any other clothes, that the people might not sus¬ 
pect they concealed money for purchasing votes; and also, that 
they might more easily show to the people the scars of those 
wounds they had received in fighting for the commonwealth. 
It was also unlawful to put up for any public office, unless the 
candidate had attained a certain age. 

CORPS. 

This term, as applied to a regiment of soldiers, is derived from 
the French word corps —a body. To distinguish, however, be¬ 
tween a live body of men, and the dead body of an individual, 
we add the final e when applied to the latter. 

CYGNET. 

The term cygnet, as applied to young swans, is derived from 
Cycnus , or Cygnus , the Son of Mars, slain by Hercules; also a 
king of the Ligurians, who, bewailing the death of Phaeton, was 
metamorphosed into a swan. 

DELF, OR DELFT. 

Pipes, tiles, bricks, and the common yellow earthenware, were 
originally principally manufactured at Delft, in Holland, and 
which circumstance gave a name to all common ware of that de¬ 
scription. 


424 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


DEODAND. 

From Deo, God— dand, a forfeit. Dr. Johnson, or ratlier Cow¬ 
ley, from whence the quotation is made, gives the following 
definition of Deodand:—“A thing given or forfeited to God, for the 
pacifying of his wrath in case of any misfortune by which any 
Christian comes to a violent end, without the fault of any reason¬ 
able creature.” Blackstone’s account is different, and more 
rational: He refers it, and very properly, to the humane supersti¬ 
tion of our ancestors; and the forfeited chattel was intended, as 
were also the garments of a stranger found dead, to purchase 
m asses for the soul of him who had been snatched from the 
•world by sudden death. Deodands at present go to the king; 
some to the lord of the manor. 

DRUID. 

Various opinions have been held respecting the origin of the 
word Druid; some have imagined it to come from the Celtic 
Deru , an oak. Pliny supposes it to have been derived from the 
Greek a pDq which also signifies an oak ; and were we to compare 
the deity of the Druids, worshipped in the oaken forests of Angle- 
sea, with Jupiter, the great divinity of the Greeks, we might be 
led to conclude, that the Druids borrowed their religion as well 
as their names from the Greeks, did we not recollect that no 
Grecian colony ever came to Britain, and therefore that, to the 
former, the religion and language of the latter must have been 
unknown : others derive the word Druid from the ancient Bri¬ 
tish Tru-wis, or Trou^wys, which may be rendered wise men; 
whilst others suppose it to have its origin in the Saxon Dru, a 
soothsayer. Vossius is, however, of opinion, that it is derived 
from the Hebrew verb to seek out, or inquire diligently. Of 
all these various suppositions I am most inclined to adopt the 
last, and there can hardly be a doubt that this verb is the root 
of the Saxon word Dru; yet, as I may be mistaken in my ideas 
on this head, I shall be happy in having the error pointed out, 
and the true derivation given; for, however unnecessary the 
tracing of words to their origin may appear to some, yet I doubt 
not there are many who will agree, that it is both a profitable 
and pleasing employment, particularly when we find (as is mostly 
the case) that all words may, directly or indirectly, be proved 
to originate in that language which the Almighty made use of 
to declare his will to men. 


ECHO. 

The word Echo , according to Heathen Mythology, is derived 
from Echo, the daughter of Aer and Terra. Juno condemned 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


425 


her to repeat nothing but the last word of those who asked her 
any question, because she had offended her. 

FINIS. 

The word Finis was first used at the termination of a book, in 
the year 1600; before that period it was marked with this cha¬ 
racter <J, called cornis, and which may be met with now in the 
libraries of antiquaries; nay, indeed, may occasionally be stumbled 
upon amid the heterogeneous collection of a book-stall. 


GENTLEMAN. 

Chamberlayne says, that in strictness, a gentleman is one whose 
ancestors have been freemen, and have owed obedience to none 
but their prince; on which footing, no man can be a gentleman 
but one who is born such. But among us, the term gentleman is 
applicable to all above yeomen; so that noblemen may properly 
be called gentlemen. In our statutes, gentilis homo was adjudged 
a good addition for a gentleman; 27 Edward III. The addition 
of knight is very ancient; but that of esquire, or gentleman, was 
rare before 1 Henry V. Sir Thomas Smith, who wrote in the time 
of Edward VI. on the dignity and title, says, “As for gentlemen, 
they be may be made good cheap in this kingdom ; for whosoever 
studietli the laws of the realm, who studies in the Universities, 
who possesses the liberal sciences, and to be short, who can live 
idly and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, 
and countenance of a gentleman, he shall be called master, and 
shall be taken for a gentleman.” 

In Bird’s Magazine of Honour , printed in the year 1642, is 
the following description of the term gentleman: “ And whoever 
studieth in the Universities, who professeth the liberal sciences, 
and, to be short, who can live idly and without manual labour, 
and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, 
he shall be called master: for this is the title that men give to 
’squires and other gentlemen. For true it is with us, as one 
said, tanti eris aliis quamti tihi fueris: and, if need be, a king of 
heralds shall for money give him arms newly made and invented, 
with the crest and all; the title whereof shall pretend to have 
been found by the said herald in perusing and viewing of old 
registers, where his ancestors in time past had been recorded to 
bear the same; or, if he will do it more truly, and of better faith, 
he will write that former merits of, and certain qualifications 
that he doth see in him, and for sundry noble acts which he 
hath performed, he, by the authority which he hath, asked of 
the heralds in his province; and of arms give unto him and his 
heirs these, and these heroical bearings in arms.” 


426 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


GINS. 

The species of snares or engines, called Gins, and which are 
used for ensnaring game, vermin, &c., derive their appellative from 
a corruption of the word Engine. 

GIPSY. 

This term, which is given to a race of itinerants, is derived from 
Egyptian; or, in other words, a race of people from Egypt. How 
long since they first emigrated from thence, the ablest writers have 
merely conjectured. It is generally believed, however, that they 
quitted Egypt when attacked by the Turks iu 1513. Germany 
is the most famed for them: they have their own laws, rules, 
and regulations of society; and although generally considered 
and treated as vagabonds, yet, as a witty writer observes, “ There 
is only this difference between them and us; their people rob our 
people, and our people rob one another.” 

GAZETTE. 

The name Gazette is said to be derived from Gazetta , a small 
Venetian coin, being the price which was paid for one of the 
flying sheets of commercial and military information which were 
first published by that republic in 1563. 

GEHO! 

A learned friend of Mr. Brand’s says, “ The exclamation Geho, 
which carmen use to their horses, is probably of great antiquity. 
It is not peculiar to this country, as I have heard it used in 
France.” In the story of the milkmaid who had kicked down 
her pail, and with it all her hopes of getting rich, as related in a 
very ancient collection of apologues, entitled “ Dialogus Crea- 
turanem,” printed at Gouda in 1480, is the following passage: 
“ Et cum sic gloriaretur, et cogitaret cum quanta gloria duceretur, 
ad ilium virum super equum dicendo gio,gio, cepit pede percutere 
terram qua si pungeret equum calcaribus.” 

GRENADIER. 

% 

It was the province of the grenadier company of a regiment, in 
times past, to carry with them a kind of missile which was used at 
sieges, called a Grenade, which, when ignited, was thrown among 
or against the besieged; hence originated the term Grenadier. 

GUINEA. 

During the reign of Charles II., when Sir Robert Holmes, of 
the Isle of Wight, brought gold dust from the Coast of Guinea, 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


427 


that piece of money, so highly favoured, and so long in circula¬ 
tion, first received its name in this country. 

HOCUS-POCUS. 

“ With a sleight 

Convey men’s interest, and right, 

From Stiles’s pocket into Nokes’s 

As easily as hocus pocus.”— Hudibras, Part iii. c. iii. 1. 713. 

Archbishop Tillotson tells us, that “ in all probability these 
common juggling words of hocus-pocus are nothing else but a 
corruption of hoc est corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the 
priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of Transubstantia- 
tion.” 


HOST. 

This term, used in the Roman Catholic Church, is derived from 
the Latin word Hostia , meaning a victim. It is a consecrated 
wafer, of a circular form, composed of flour and water. 

HAGGIS. 

The savoury Scotch haggis (from hag to chop) is a dish com¬ 
monly made in a sheep’s maw, of its lungs, heart, and liver, 
mixed with suet, onions, salt, and pepper ; or of toasted oatmeal 
mixed with the latter, without any animal food. 

HAVERSACK. 

Cobbett says, “ A soldier’s haversack means a thing to put 
havings into. * It is made up of two French words, avoir and sac. 
Avoir means, to have ; when used as a noun, it means property, 
goods, things possessed, or havings; and when a soldier has once 
got any thing into this sack, be it lamb, or fowl, or goose, the 
having is very safe, I can assure you ! ” 

HONOUR. 

“ -Honour’s but a word 

To swear by only in a lord, 

In other men ’tis but a huff, 

To vapour with instead of proof, 

That like a wen, looks big and swells, 

Is senseless, and just nothing else.” 


HONESTY. 

The term honesty is derived from Honestus , a Grecian slave 
whose integrity was such, that although liberty, and an immensity 



423 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of gold awaited him, would lie but betray a secret he possessed, 
refused so to do, alleging that liberty and gold were of little 
value to him who had lost self-esteem. 

Honesty, however, is a very different matter now: 

“ O monstrous world ! 

Take note, take note, O world! 

To be direct and honest, is not safe.”— Othello. 


HOB AND NOB. 

This phrase, according to Grose, “ originated in the days of 
good Queen Bess. When great chimneys were in fashion, there 
was at each corner of the hearth or grate, a small elevated pro¬ 
jection, called hob , and behind it a seat. In winter-time the beer 
was placed on the hob to warm, and the cold beer was set on a 
small table, said to have been called the nob: so that the question, 
Will you have hob or nob? seems only to have meant, Will you 
have warm or cold beer? i.e., beer from the hob, or beer from the 
nob.” But Nares in his Glossary , s. v. Habbe or Nabbe, with 
much greater reason, shows that hob or nob, now only used con- 
vivially to ask a person whether he will have a glass of wine or 
not, is most evidently a corruption of the old hob-nob , from the 
Saxon habban, to have, and nabbon , not to have. 


BUSTING. 

The term Husting or Hustings, as applied to the scaffold 
erected at elections, from which candidates address the electors, 
is derived from the Court of Hustings, of Saxon origin, and the 
most ancient in the kingdom. Its name is a compound of hus and 
ding, the former implying a house, and the latter a thing, cause, 
suit, or plea; whereby it is manifest that Husding imports a house 
or hall, wherein causes are heard and determined; which is fur¬ 
ther evinced by the Saxon dingere or thingere , an advocate or 
lawyer. 

HERMAPHRODITE. 

This term, as applied to one partaking of the nature of the 
two sexes, is derived from Ilermaphroditus, the son of Hermes 
and Yenus. The nymph Salmacis fell in love with him, and 
begged of the gods that their bodies might be always united, and 
make but one. 

HAMMOCK. 

The natives of Brazil used to sleep in nets composed of the rind 
of the Hamack Tree, suspended between poles fixed tight in the 
ground. Hence the Sailor’s Hammock derived its name. 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


429 


HURLY-BURLY. 

Hurly-burly is said to owe its origin to Hurleigh and Bur¬ 
leigh, two neighbouring families, that filled the country around 
them with contest and violence. 

JUSTICE. 

This word is derived from Justitia, an heathen godess. She 
is represented by the figure of a young t virgin, holding in one hand 
a balance, in the other a naked sword, and blindfold, to show 
that Justice must be without distinction of persons. She was 
also, says Heathen Mythology, called Themis. 

JANIZARY. 

As the Mamelukes are the militia of the Egyptian Pachas, so 
the Janizaries are the militia of the more immediate empire of 
Turkey; and although the Sultans of the Turks are more power¬ 
ful than the Pachas, yet the Janizaries have ever exercised over 
them a great control. 

Another writer says, the recent insurrection and subsequent 
suppression of the corps of Janizaries, whose name hereafter is 
by proclamation devoted to execration in the Turkish dominion, 
had their rise in the time of Amurath I., who made a successful 
irruption into the provinces on the Danube, and he was there 
advised to incorporate the body of his youthful captives into his 
army, instead of looking for new recruits to the original seat of 
his tribe. The advice was followed, says Gibbon, the edict was 
proclaimed, many thousands of the European captives were 
educated in religion and arms, and the militia was consecrated, 
and named by a celebrated dervish. Standing in front of their 
ranks, he stretched the sleeve of his gown over the head of the 
foremost soldier, and his blessing was delivered in these words: 
“Let them be called Janizaries ( Yeniaskeri , or new soldiers); 
may their countenance be ever light; their hand victorious; their 
sword keen. May their spears always hang over the heads of 
their enemies, and wheresoever they go may they return with a 
white face.” Such, adds the historian, was the origin of those 
haughty troops ; the terror of the nation, and sometimes of the 
Sultans themselves. For 200 years, namely, from the end of the 
14th to that of the 16th century, the force thus obtained by in¬ 
corporating in the Mussulman army the fifth of Christian captive 
youths, and the tenth of the youths of the conquered villages, 
with the slaves of the Sultan, composed the flower of the Turkish 
armies; and so long as the first Sultans ruled their nation from 
the heart of their camps, and declared their decrees from the 
lnquerial Stirruj), their obedience was secur d, and there ne^ er 


430 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


was a fitter instrument of war and conquests. In the year 1826, 
the late Sultan on the occasion of a mutiny dissolved the whole 
corps, after a bloody struggle in his capital, in which 20,000 were 
said to have perished, but that number is now thought to be 
exaggerated. 

KLOCKE, i. e., CLOCK, OR BELL. 

Baron Holberg says, he was in company of men of letters, when 
several conjectures were offered concerning the origin of the 
word campana , a klocke (i. e., bell) in the northern tongues. On 
his return home, he consulted several writers. Some, he says, 
think the word klocke to be of the northern etymology; these 
words, ut cloca habeatur in ecclesia, occurring in the most ancient 
histories of the north. It appears from hence, that in the infancy 
of Christianity the word doca was used in the north instead of 
campana. Certain French writers derive the word doca from 
cloche , and this again from clocher, i. e., to limp; for, say they, as 
a person who limps falls from one side to the other, so do klockes 
(bells) when rung. Some have recourse to the Latin word clangor, 
others to the Greek I call; some even deduce it from the 

word cochlea, a snail, from the resemblance of its shell to a bell. 
As to the Latin word campana, it was first used in Italy, at Nola, 
in Campania; and it appears that the greater bells only were 
called campana, and the lesser nola. 

The invention of them is generally attributed to bishop Paulinus, 
but this certainly must be understood only of the religious use of 
them ; it being plain, from Roman writers, that they had the like 
machines, called tintinnabula. 


KEEL. 

This term, as applied to vessels, is derived from ceol, a term 
for ships among the Anglo-Saxons. Another writer says, we 
fetch the origin of the word keel from the keles of the Greeks, and 
the celox of the Romans ; a small swift-sailing vessel. 


LACK-A-DAISY. 

In Todd’s Johnson it is explained as “ a frequent colloquial term 
implying alas; most probably from the forgotten verb lack, to 
blame. The expression, therefore, may be considered as blaming, 
finding fault with, the day on which the event mentioned 
happened.” 

LADY. 

It was formerly the custom in those families whom God had 
blessed with affluence, to live constantly at their mansion-house 
in the country, and that once a week, or oftener,the Lady of the 
manor distributed to her poor neighbours, with her own hands, 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


431 


a certain quantity of bread, and she was called by them the leff-day, 
i. e., in Saxon, the bread-giver. These two words were in time 
corrupted, and the meaning is now as little known as the practice 
which gave rise to it; yet it is from that hospitable custom, that 
to this day the ladies, in this kingdom alone, serve the meat at 
their own tables. 


LAMB’S WOOL. 

This constant ingredient of a merry-making on Holy Eve, 
especially in Ireland, and which is a preparation of roasted apples 
and ale, is thus etymologized by "Valiancy: “The first day of 
November w T as dedicated to the angel presiding over fruits and 
seeds, &c., and was therefore named La Mas Ubhal, i. e., the day of 
apple fruit, and being pronounced lamasool, the English have 
corrupted the name to lamb’s wool. 

LIBRARY. 

Library is derived from liber, which signifies the inner bark of 
trees, of which the Egyptians made their records. The oldest 
public library of antiquity of which we have any credible account, 
is that founded by Pisistratus at Athens ; which was carried by 
Xerxes into Persia, and recovered by Seleucus Nicanor. 

LITERATI. 

The word which now confers honour had at one time a very 
different signification. Among the Romans it is usual to affix 
some branding or ignominious letter on the criminal, when the 
crime was infamous in its nature; and persons so branded were 
called inscripti, or stigmatici , or by a more equivocal term, literati. 
The same expression is likewise adopted in stat. 4 Henry VIII., 
which recites “ that diverse persons lettered had been more bold 
to commit mischievous deeds,” &c. 


LIVERYMEN. 

Upon the demise of Canute, a witena gemote, or convention of 
wise men, was held at Oxford ; where earl Leofric, and most of the 
Thanes on the north side of the river Thames, with the Lidymen 
of London, chose Harold king. Lidymen is, by the translator of 
the Saxon annals, rendered nautce , i. e., mariners. This translation 
seems very inconsistent with the honour of the city, to choose one 
of its fraternities to represent it on so solemn an occasion; but as 
I take Lidymen (says Maitland) to mean Pilots, which the direc¬ 
tors or governors of cities may not improperly be called, I am 
of opinion, that the city representatives at Oxford were the 
magistrates, and not the mariners of London. Ee that as it will, 




432 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


it suffices to sliow that this city then was of such distinction, 
grandeur, and power, that no national affair of importance was 
transacted without its consent; for in this case the Saxon annals 
are very plain, that none else were admitted into this electoral 
convention but the nobility, and the Lidymen or Liverymen of 
London. 

LULLABY. 

Lullaby, or L’Elaby, from a supposed fairy called Ellaby Gathon, 
whom nurses invited to watch the sleeping babes, that they might 
not be changed for others. Hence changeling, or infant changed. 

LUNCHEON. 

Our familiar name of Luncheon is derived from the daily meal 
of the Spaniards at eleven o’clock, termed once or Vonce (pro¬ 
nounced Vonchey). 

MAMELUKE. 

The militia of the sultans of Egypt are called Mamelukes. The 
term signifies a servant, slave, or soldier; they were commonly 
captives taken from among the Christians, and instructed in 
military discipline, and were not allowed to marry. Their power 
was great; for, besides that the sultans were chosen out of their 
body, they disposed of the most important offices of the kingdom. 
They were formidable about 200 years, till at last Selim, sultan 
of the Turks, routed them, and killed their sultan near Aleppo, 
1516, and so put an end to the empire of the Mamelukes, which 
lasted 267 years. 

Nevertheless the Mamelukes, under their twenty-four beys, con¬ 
tinued for 200 years more to exercise a power scarcely inferior to 
that of the Turkish Pachas, whom in the 18 th century they reduced 
to mere ciphers in the government. Their power was again con¬ 
siderably broken by the French invasion under Bonaparte, to 
which they offered a decided opposition. Finally, in 1811, the 
late Pacha, having invited the principal leaders of the Mamelukes 
to a banquet, slew 470 of them by treason, and compelled the 
remainder to submission. 

MATRIMONY. 

It was formerly wedlock, when man took his wife for a help¬ 
mate ; but when settlements became the leading feature, the 
state then degenerated into a matter of money , and which term 
has entailed upon us the less expressive one of Matrimony. 

MAUSOLEUM. 

A sepulchral building, so called from Mausolus, a king of Caria, 
to whose memory it was raised by his wife Artemisia about 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


433 


553 b.c. From its extraordinary magnificence, it was esteemed 
one of the seven wonders of the world. According to Pliny, it 
was one hundred and eleven feet in circumference, and one 
hundred and forty feet high. It is said to have been encompassed 
by thirty-six columns, and exceedingly enriched with sculpture. 
Hence all sepulchral structures of importance have obtained the 
name of mausolea. 


MAN. 

This appellation given to the male sex, to distinguish them 
from the female, is derived from the Saxon word mang —signi¬ 
fying among. It is somewhat difficult, in giving the etymon of 
some words, terms, or appellations, to manifest the reason for the 
expression used ; among others is that of the Saxon term mang. 
Most writers agree, however, that it was used by our ancestors 
as the distinguishing appellative from the other sex. The rest is 
left to conjecture. It lias been suggested, that the human being 
was thus denominated by them, because among the rest of the 
creation he was the only one created in the likeness of his 
Creator; this, however, is after all a little far-fetched, and it is 
imagined we must be satisfied with a denomination which use 
and harmony have rendered alike familiar, without prying too 
minutely into its uncertain origin. 

MINSTER. 

This term, as applied to our cathedrals, such as West Minster, 
York Minster, Lincoln Minster, is a corruption from Monastery, 
these buildings in earlier times having monasteries attached to 
them. 

MUSHROOM. 

In the sixteenth century this word appears generally to have 
been spelt Mushrump. Nares, in his valuable Glossary, gives an 
instance from Marlow’s play of Edward the Second, 1598; but 
there is an earlier example in Robert Southwell’s Spirituall 
Poems, 1595: 

“ He that high growth on cedars did bestow, 

Gave also lowly mushrumps leave to growe.” 

It is also spelt Mushrump in Cockeram’s Dictionary, 1632. 
These instances may possibly lead to a correct etymology of the 
word. 

NICKNAME. 

The term Nickname appears to mean a name by which that 
person might be distinguished from others by some marks on his 
face, or other part exposed to view. In ancient times the swans 

2 F 


434 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


of the king were marked with nicks on the bill , or wings, or neck. 
The keeper of the Royal swans used to go round once a year to 
examine the swans, and renew the nicks when required. This 
practice is still kept by the Lord Mayor once a year, and is now 
called Swan-Hopping. This is probably a corruption for Swan- 
Hooping , meaning to mark the swans with a ring cut for a 
mark. Some swans are said to have had a silver ring round 
their necks, marked with the Royal coronet. The swan with 
two necks is a corruption for the swan with two nicks. 

PANIC. 

It sometimes happened with the ancient Greeks, well disci¬ 
plined and brave as their armies were, that a body of troops, with¬ 
out any attack being made or threatened, would take upon 
themselves to disperse and fly for their lives, leaving their camps 
and baggage, throwing away their arms, running over hill and 
dale for days and nights together, till their legs and their fright 
wore out together. As they were philosophers enough to know, 
that there would be no act without a motive, they excused them¬ 
selves on these occasions by saying, that the god Pan, a shaggy 
and venerable person with goats’ feet, had appeared to them, and 
that it consequently became them as pious persons to do their 
utmost to break their necks in a fright. Hence the phrase, “ Panic 
Terror.” Whether the god Pan appeared in the city of London 
at the great commercial panic of 1825 is not known ; but it would 
be extremely difficult for many who were affected by terror, to 
find a better cause. 

PARSON. 

Selden says, though we write Parson differently, it is but 
Person, i. e., the individual person set apart for the service of 
such a church; and it is in Latin persona ,—and personatus is, 
personage. 

PERJURY. 

The word Perjury is derived from perjurii, —false sworn. It 
is defined by Sir Edward Coke to be u a crime committed when 
a lawful oath is administered, in some judicial proceedings, to a 
person who swears wilfully, absolutely, and falsely, in a matter 
material to the issue or point in question; and subornation of 
perjury is the offence of procuring another to take such a false 
oath as constitutes perjury in the principal.” 


This season (1802) says the Annual Register , has been marked 
by a new species of entertainment, common to the fashionable 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


435 


A 

world, called a Pic-nick supper. It consists of a variety of dishes. 
The subscribers to the entertainment have a bill of fare presented 
to them, with a number against each dish. The lot which he 
draws obliges him to furnish the dish marked against it; which 
he either takes with him in a carriage, or sends by a servant. 
The proper variety is preserved by the taste of the maitre-d’hotel, 
who forms the bill of fare. 


PORCELAIN. 

Whitaker, in his account of the course of Hannibal over the 
Alps, says, that the term Porcelain comes from Puslain, which 
has a purple-coloured flower, like to the ancient China, which 
was always of that colour.—Vol. i. 8vo, 1794, p. 55. 

POT-WALLER. 

Pot-walloner , Pot-waller , or Pot-walloper , signifies one that boils 
his own pot; but not in the street, as has been wantonly reported. 
Each of these terms is derived from wealan , Saxon, to boil: but 
Pot-waller , seems to be most proper. It is observable that wall 
and wallop are provincial expressions of the like import at this 
day. 

PURITAN. 

The nickname of Puritans was at first devised by Sanders the 
Jesuit, to cast a reproach upon the persons and way of Refor¬ 
mers ; to render them suspicious and odious to the State. The 
righteous hand of the Lord struck him with madness who invent¬ 
ed the name: nor doth He delight in them that delight to take 
up a reproach against the innocent.—(Kennett’s Collections , 
Lansdown , No. 1024, p. 321, b.) 

RACE. 

The Arabs call their thorough-bred horses, Race-horses, or 
horses of a family, or Race, because they can trace their families 
or breeds as high as a Welsh pedigree. The Iman is at once 
both priest and civil magistrate, and it is equally his duty to 
register the birth of children and the foaling of brood mares. 

On the sale of one of these horses, the Iman delivers a certifi¬ 
cate of the pedigree, carefully copied from his register, to the 
buyer, of which an Arab is as proud as if it were his own 
pedigree. As these horses of race, or family, were in Europe bred 
only for the course, we evidently, in preserving the French 
expression, cheval de race , or race-horse, gave the name of Race 
to the course itself, being a contest between race-horses, from 
whence the expression became popular to denote any contest in 
running. 


436 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


RADICAL. 

The application of tlie term Radical arose about the year 1818, 
when the popular leaders, Henry Hunt, Major Cartwright, and 
others, sought, both in and out of Parliament, to obtain a Radical 
Reform in the Representative system: it never was applied to 
the Whigs as a party. Its origin may probably be traced to the 
writings of Lord Bolingbroke, who, in his Discourses on Parties, 
Let. 18, employs the term in its present accepted sense : he says, 
“ Such a remedy might have wrought a radical cure of the evil 
that threatens our constitution,” &c.—Richardson’s Dictionary. 

RINGLEADER. 

The word ringleader is more generally used in a bad sense, 
namely, of a person that is at the head of a mob, a mustering, a 
riot, or any tumultuous assembly. How comes it to carry always 
this unfortunate sense % The lexicographers tell us, “ a ringleader 
is a person that leads the ring;” but this does not satisfy, for a 
ring does not always imply an illegal assembly. It is no doubt 
an expression derived from the Ring used in mutinies at sea, 
which the sailors call a Round Robin; for it seems the muti¬ 
neers, on account of the certain punishment that would be sure 
to overtake the first movers in case the project should not take 
effect, generally sign their names in a ring; by which means it 
cannot possibly be known, upon a discovery of the plot, who it 
was that signed first, and consequently all must be deemed 
equally guilty; and yet the person that signs first, is literally the 
Ringleader. If this word be applied in a good sense, it may be 
taken from the Ring, a diversion formerly in use here in England. 

ROSARY. 

Richardson derives it from Fr. Rosaire; Ital. and Sp. Rosario ; 
Low Lat. Rosarium , corona rosacea , a garland or chaplet of roses. 
The definition of it by the Abbe Prevost is this:—“ It consists,” 
he says, “ of fifteen tens, said to be in honour of the fifteen myste¬ 
ries in which the blessed Virgin bore a part. Five Joyous, viz., 
the annunciation, the visit to St. Elizabeth, the birth of our 
Saviour, the purification, and the disputation of Christ in the 
temple. Five Sorrowful: our Saviour’s agony in the garden, his 
flagellation, crowning with thorns, bearing his cross, and cruci¬ 
fixion. Five Glorious: his resurrection, ascension, the descent 
of the Holy Ghost, his glorification in heaven, and the assumption 
of the Virgin herself.”— Manuel Lexique. Nares, quoting this 
passage, adds, “ This is good authority; but why each of the fives 
is multiplied by ten the Abbe does not explain; probably to 
make the chaplet of a sufficient length.” 




THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


437 


THE SWALLOW. 

The term Swallow is derived from the French Hirondelle ,* 
signifying indiscriminately voracious. The Swallow makes its 
first appearance in Great Britain early in spring; remains with us 
during summer, and disappears in autumn. The four species 
which inhabit this island, are also found during summer in 
almost every other region in Europe and Asia, where their 
manners and habits are nearly the same as in this country. In 
the more southern parts of the continent, they appear somewhat 
earlier than in England. The distinguishing marks of the 
swallow tribe are:—a small bill; a wide mouth; a head large in 
proportion to the bulk of the body, and somewhat flattish ; a neck 
scarcely visible; a short, broad, and cloven tongue; a tail mostly 
forked; short legs; very long wings; and a rapid and continued 
flight. No subject has more engaged the naturalist in all ages 
than the brumal retreat of the swallow ; neither is there any 
subject on which more various and contrary opinions have been 
entertained. Some have supposed that they retire at the 
approach of winter to the inmost recesses of rocks and moun¬ 
tains, and that they there remain in a torpid state till spring. 
Others have conjectured that these birds immerse themselves in 
the water at the approach of winter, and that they remain at the 
bottom in a state of torpidity, until they are again called forth by 
the influence of the vernal sun. Dr. Foster admits that there 
are several instances on record of their having been found in 
such situations, clustered together in great numbers, and that, on 
being brought before the fire, they have revived and flown away. 
But he thinks that few of the accounts were well authenticated; 
and that the celebrated John Hunter and Mr. Pearson clearly 
prove, from various experiments, that these birds cannot continue 
long under water without being drowned. The Doctor does not 
deny that swallows have occasionally been found under water; 
but he attributes their having been found in such situations to 
mere accident. As it is well known that, towards the latter end 
of autumn, swallows frequently roost by the sides of lakes and 
rivers he therefore supposes that a number of these birds had 
retired to roost on the banks of some shallow and muddy river 
at low tide ; that they had been induced by the cold to creep 
among the reeds and rushes which might grow in the shallow 
parts of the river, and that while in that situation, driven into a 
state of torpidity by the cold, they had been overwhelmed, and 
perhaps washed into the current by the coming in of the tide. 
However, Dr. Forster clearly shows, that swallows are birds of 
passage, and produces the accounts of mariners, who had seen 
these birds many hundred miles out at sea, and on whose ships 

* Literally a marshy place, that absorbs or swallows what comes within 
its vortex. 


2 F 2 


438 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


they had alighted to rest, almost exhausted with fatigue and 
hunger. 

SCEPTIC. 

The word Sceptic is from the Greek ewropu,I examine. Pyrrho 
was the chief of sceptic philosophers, and was at first, as Apollo- 
dorus saith, a painter, then became the hearer of Driso, and at 
last the disciple of Anaxagoras, whom he followed into India to 
see the Gymnosophists. He pretended that men did nothing but 
by custom, that there was neither honesty nor dishonesty, justice 
nor injustice, good nor evil. He was very solitary, lived to be 
90 years old, was highly esteemed in his country, and created 
Chief Priest. He lived in the time of Alexander the Great, about 
the year 300 b. c. His followers were called Pyrrhonians, besides 
which they were named the Ephectics and Aphoretics, but 
more generally Sceptics,— i. e., men who doubted. 

This sect made their chiefest good to consist in a sedateness of 
mind, exempt from all passions; in regulating their opinions and 
moderating their passions, which they called Ataxia and Metrio- 
pathia ; and in suspending their judgment in regard of good or 
evil, truth or falsehood, which they called Epochi. Sextus 
Empiricus, who lived in the second century under the Emperor 
Antonins Pius, wrote ten books against the Mathematicians, or 
Astrologers, and three of the Pyrrhonian opinion. 

SENATOR. 

The term Senator, says Maitland, is derived from the Saxon 
Senex, which has a similar meaning to the Saxon word Ealderman , 
alderman, or old man. 

SI QUIS. 

Si Quis , i. e., “ If any one,” was the first word of advertisements 
often published on the doors of St. Paul’s Cathedral. 

SINGING-BREAD. 

Amongst the effects belonging to Sir John Fastolfe, one of the 
heroes of Agincourt (of which an inventory is given in the Archceo- 
logia , vol. xxi. p. 238), will be found in the chapel, “ One box for 
syngyng brede, weyng 4 oz.” To this item the following note is 
attached by the late Mr. Amyot: “‘Pain h chanter,’ i. e., the 
host or unleavened bread, consecrated by the priest singing . In 
Caxton’s Doctrinal of tiapyence, there is a direction to the priest, 
1 that if in the host be any form of flesh, or other form than bread, 
he might not to use that host, but ought to sing again.’ In 
Queen Elizabeth's injunctions it is ordered that the sacramental 
bread shall be ‘of the same fineness and fashion, though somewhat 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


439 


bigger in compass and thickness, as the usual bread and water 
heretofore named singing-cakes, which served for the use of the 
private mass.’ It was made into small round cakes, impressed 
with the cross.”—P. 239. Davies, in his Monuments , <fcc., of the 
Church of Durham , 1593, speaks of an almery near one of the 
nine altars in that cathedral, “ Wherein singing-bread and wine 
were usually placed, at which the Sacristan caused his servant or 
scholar daily thereat to deliver singing-bread and wine to those 
who assisted in the celebration of mass.” In Strype’s Life of 
Archbishop Parker is given a certificate from the Cathedral of 
Canterbury, concerning thee onformity to the rites and ceremo¬ 
nies of the church, in which it is stated (inter alia), “ For the 
ministering of the communion we use bread appointed by the 
Queen’s Injunctions.” A marginal note, referring to the word 
“ bread,” repeats what has been quoted, viz., that it w r as to resem¬ 
ble the singing-cakes formerly used in private masses .—Notes and 
Queries , vol. vi. p. 471. 

STATHE. 

Stathe , Staid , and Steed, are Anglo-Saxon terms, formerly ap¬ 
plied to single fixed dwellings, or to places on the banks of rivers, 
where merchandise was stored up, and at which vessels could lie 
to receive it. In 1338, the Prior of Tynemouth let for two years, 
at 40s. a year, a plot of ground in Newcastle, upon which sea coal 
had usually been laid up, and which was at the west end of a 
house upon the Stathes, which in modern language is, as if one 
said, upon the Wharf, or upon the Quay. 

SURNAMES. 

In Additional MSS., British Museum, No. 5805, p. iv., Cole says: 
“ Before surnames were in use, they were forced to distinguish 
one another by the addition of Fitz or Son, as Jolm Fitz-John, or 
John the son of John, or John Johnson, as now in use. This was 
in the first Edward’s time: nay, so late as the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, in some places in France they had no surnames, but 
only Christian names, as the learned Monsieur Menage informs 
us: ‘ II y a environ cent ans, a ce que dit M. Baluze, qu’a Tulle on 
n’avaitque desnomspropres, et point de surnoms.’”— Menagiana, 
tom. i., p. 116, edit. 1729. Again, in Cole’s MSS., vol. xliii. p 176, 
relating to a deed of the Priory of Spalding, Cole says: “ One 
observes in this deed several particulars : first, that the Priory 
used a seal with an image of the Blessed Virgin, together with 
one of their arms; if possibly they used one of the latter sort so 
early as this John the Spaniard’s time, in the reign, as I conceive, 
of King Richard I., when arms for the gentry were hardly in¬ 
troduced. Among the witnesses are two Simons chief, one dis¬ 
tinguished by his complexion, and called Simon Blondus, or the 
Fair ; the other had no name as yet to distinguish him by, and 


440 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


therefore only called here ‘another Simon.’ This occasioned the 
introduction of surnames, and shows the necessity of them.” 

TAWDRY. 

At the annual fair in the Isle of Ely, called St. Audrey’s fair, 
much ordinary but showy lace was usually sold to the country 
lasses, and St. Audrey’s lace soon became proverbial; and from 
that cause Tawdry, a corruption of St. Audrey, was established 
as a common expression to denote not only lace, but any other 
part of the female dress, which was much more gaudy in ap¬ 
pearance than warranted by its real quality and value. 


TERM. 

Term is derived from Terminus , the heathen god of boundaries, 
landmarks, and limits of time. In the early ages of Christianity, 
the whole year was one continued term for hearing and deciding 
causes ; but subsequently, the daily dispensation of justice was 
prohibited by canonical authority, that the festival might be 
kept holy. 

Advent and Christmas occasioned the winter vacation; Lent 
and Easter, the Spring; Pentecost the third ; and hay-time and 
harvest, the long vacation, between Midsummer and Michael¬ 
mas. Each term is denominated from the festival day immedi¬ 
ately preceding its commencement; hence we learn the term of 
St. Hilary, Easter, the Holy Trinity, and St. Michael. There 
are in each term days called dies in banco (days in bank), that is, 
days of appearance in common bench. They are usually about a 
week from each other, and have reference to some festival. 
All original writs are returnable on those days, and they are 
therefore called the return days. 

TOADY. 

Toady , or Toad-eater, a vulgar name for a fawning, obsequious 
sycophant, was first given to a gluttonous parasite, famous for his 
indiscriminate enjoyment and praise of all viands whatever set 
before him. To test his powers of stomach and complaisance, 
one of his patrons had a toad cooked and set before him, which 
he both ate and praised in his usual way.—Ogilvie’s Imperial 
Dictionary. 

TOMBSTONE. 

The compound word Tombstone, which signifies a tablet on 
which is inscribed the virtues or peculiarities of the deceased, is 
derived from toma, a volume. The hillocks of earth over the 
majority of graves, originated from the Eoman Tumuli, or Mound, 
which they placed over their dead, and those who are at all versed 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


441 


in history, are aware that a great many of our artificial hills are 
the Tumuli of numbers who have been slain in battle. 

VOLUME. 

Volume is derived from the Latin volvo, to roll up, the ancient 
manner of making up books, as we find, in Cicero’s time, the 
libraries consisted wholly of such rolls. 

WALLOON. 

The Body Guard of the Spanish monarch, denominated the 
Walloon Guard, receive their name from the Walloons, a people 
in the Low Countries, so called. They were famed for making 
and dyeing fine woollen cloths. The Duke of Alva, who was 
Governor of the Netherlands for Philip II. of Spain, in order to 
flatter those whom he ruled, selected a body guard from among 
the Walloons for the Spanish monarch, and gave it the appellation 
of the Walloon Guard, or Walloon Guards. 

WHOOIIE! 

Whoohe! a well-known exclamation to stop a team of horses, 
is derived by a writer in the “ Gentleman's Magazine ,” 1799, 
from the Latin. “ The exclamation used by our waggoners when 
they wish to stop their team for any purpose (an exclamation 
which it is less difficult to speak than to write, although neither 
is a task of great facility), is probably a legacy bequeathed us by 
our Roman ancestors; precisely a translation of the ancient Ohe! 
an interjection strictly confined to bespeaking & pause —rendered 
by our lexicographers, Enough! oh, enough! 

WAITS. 

The popular name for the music played in our streets on the 
nights of the Christmas Holidays is thought to be only a corrup¬ 
tion of “wake,” the common name for a nocturnal solemnity. It 
has been presumed that Waits in very ancient times meant 
Watchmen, and that they were minstrels at first attached to the 
King’s Court, who sounded the watch every night, and prevented 
depredations. “This noun,” says Dr. Busby, “has no singular 
number, and formerly signified hautboys. From the instrument 
its signification was, after a time, transferred to the performers 
themselves, who, being in the habit of parading the streets by 
night with their music, occasioned the name to be applied gene¬ 
rally to all musicians who followed a similar practice.” 

WHIFF LEE. 

This word, which we so often meet with in Shakspeare’s plays, 
is a term, Mr. Douce says, “ undoubtedly borrowed from whiffle, 


442 


THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


another name for a fife or small flute; for wliifflers were originally 
those who preceded armies or processions, as fifers or pipers: in 
process of time, the word ivhijjler , which had always been used 
in the sense of a fifer, came to signify any person who went before 
in a procession.” He observes, that Minshew defines him to be, 
a club or staff bearer, and that it appears wliifflers carried white 
staves, as in the annual feast of the printers, founders, and ink- 
makers, as well as in funeral processions, &c. 

WARDMOTE. 

Wardmote is a compound of the words Ward and Mote, i. e ., 
the Ward Court; for in London parishes are as towns, and 
wards as hundreds; wherefore the Ward Court resembles that 
of the Leet in the County: for as the latter derives its authority 
from the county court, so does the former from that of the 
Lord Mayor; as is manifest by the annual precept issued by the 
Lord Mayor to the several Aldermen, for holding their respective 
Leets for the election of proper offices in each Ward. 

WHITE. 

White was anciently used as a term of fondling, or endearment. 
In the Return from Parnassus , 1606, Amoretto’spage says, “ When 
he returns, i’ll tell twenty admirable lies of his hawks; and 
then I shall be his little rogue, his white villain , for a whole 
week after.”—[Act ii., sc. 6.] Doctor Busby used to call his 
favourite scholars, his White Boys. Various other authorities 
might be cited. 

WIFE. 

This term, appropriated to a man’s better-half, as she is termed, 
is derived from the Saxon husewyf or housewife—signifying one 
who has the superintendence of household affairs— wyf, or wyf, 
but as it is now spelt wife, implying a matron. 

WINE. 

This appellation of the “juice of the grape,” is derived from the 
Saxon word wyn. October was called Wyn-monath; and albeit 
they had not anciently wines made in Germany, yet in this season 
had they them from divers countries adjoining. 

WITCH. 

Witch is derived from the Dutch witchelen , which signifies 
whinnying and neighing like a horse: in a secondary sense, also, 
to foretell and prophesy; because the Germans, as Tacitus informs 
us, used to divine and foretell things to come, by the whinnying 
and neighing of their horses. His words are, hinnitu etfremitu. 



THE ETYMOLOGICAL COMPENDIUM. 


443 


WAPENTAKE. 

There have been several conjectures as to the origin of this 
word; one of which is, that anciently musters were made of the 
Armour and Weapons of the inhabitants of every hundred, and 
from those they could not find sufficient pledges of their good 
abearing, their iveapons were taken away, and given to others; 
whence it is said this word is taken. Wilkins, an old writer, 
says, “ In England every man was a soldier, and the county 
meetings were styled ‘ wapen-takes,’ from the custom of going 
armed to the assembly, and of touching the spear of the magis¬ 
trate, to show the readiness of each man for action. Slaves, he 
says, were not suffered to carry arms about them; the very gift 
of a weapon conferred freedom. On the other hand, the free¬ 
man never stirred abroad without his spear; and laws were 
actually made to guard against the damages occasioned by the 
careless bearer.” 

The word is of Saxon origin, says another authority, the mean¬ 
ing whereof is the same as hundred, a division of a county so 
called, because the inhabitants did give up their arms in token of 
subjection. With King Alfred the dividing of this kingdom 
into counties originated, and of giving the government of each 
county to a sheriff; these were afterwards divided into hundreds 
(some say from its containing a hundred families, or from its 
furnishing a hundred able men for the king’s wars), of which the 
constable was the chief officer. These grants were at first made 
by the king to particular persons, but they are not now held by 
grant or prescription, their jurisdiction being devolved to the 
county court; a few of them only excepted, that have been by 
privilege annexed to the crown, or granted to some great subjects, 
and still remain in the nature of a franchise. 

WINDFALL. 

Arvine, in his Cyclopaedia, gives the following plausible reason 
for the origin of this term, now in such common use.—“ Some of 
the nobility of England, by the tenure of their estates, were for¬ 
bidden felling any trees in the forests upon them, the timber being 
reserved for the use of the royal navy. Such trees as fell without 
cutting, were the property of the occupant. A tornado was 
therefore a perfect godsend, in every sense of the word, to those 
who had occupancy of extensive forests; and the windfall was 
sometimes of very great value.” 


A TABLE OF THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND. 


Title. 


The House of Normandy. 

William I. Obtained the Crown by Conquest 

William II. Itli son of Will. I. 


Henry I . Youngest son of Will. I. 


Stephen. 


{ 


Henry II. 


Richard I... 

John. 

Henry III. .. 
Edward I.... 
Edward II... 
Edward III. 
Richard II.. 


Henry IV. 
Henry V... 
Henry VI.. 


Edward IV. 

Edward V. 

Richard III. .. 


Henry VII.. 


Henry VIII. 
Edward VI. 

Mary. 

Elizabeth... 


James I. 


Charles I. 

Interregnum... 

Charles II. 

James II. 


William III 


Mary . 
Anne . 


■{ 


George I. 

George II.... 
George III... 
George IV... 
William IV. 

Victoria . 


III. 


The House of Blois. 

3d son of Stephen, Earl of Blois, by) 
Adela, 4th daughter of Will. I.) 

The House of Plantagenet. 

Son of GeoffreyPlantagenet, by .Matilda,) 

only daughter of Hen. 1.3 

Eldest surviving son of Hen. II. 

6th and youngest son of Hen. II. 

Eldest son of John. 

Eldest son of Hen. Ill. 

Eldest surviving son of Ed. I. 

Eldest son of Ed. II.. 

Son of the Black Prince, eld. son of Ed. Ill, 

The House of Lancaster. 

Son of John of Gaunt, 4th son of Ed 

Eldest son of Hen. IV. 

Only son of Hen. V. 

The House of York. 

His grandfather, Richard, was son of 
Edmund, 5th son of Ed. III.; and his 
grandmother, Anne,was great-grand¬ 
daughter of Lionel, 3d son of Ed. III. 

Eldest son of Ed. IV. 

Younger brother of Ed. IV. 

The House of Tudor. 

His father was Edmund, eldest son of\ 
Owen Tudor and Queen Catherine, r 
widow of Hen. V. ; and his mother >- 
was Margaret Beaufort, great grand- i 

daughter of John of Gaunt. ) 

Only surviving son of Hen. VII. t . 

Son of Hen. VIII. by Jane Seymour. 

Daughter of Hen. VIII. by Cath. of Arrag. 
Daughter of Hen. VIII. by Anne Boleyu 

The House of Stuart. 

Son of Mary Queen of Scots, grand-) 
daughter of James IV. and Margaret, [- 

eldest daughter of Hen. VII.; 

Only surviving son of James I. 


Eldest son of Charles I.. 

Only surviving son of Charles I. 

Son of Will, of Nassau, byMary, daugh-) 

ter of Charles I.£- 

Eldest daughter of James II.) 

Daughter of James II. 


The House of Hanover. 

Eldest son of the Duke of Hanover, by 
Sophia, daughter of Fred. V., king of 
Bohemia, and Elizabeth, daughter of 

James I. 

Only son of George I. 

Grandson of George II. 

Eldest son of George III. 

3d son of George III.. 

Daughter of Edward, duke of Kent, 4tli) 
son of George III.| 


Acces. 

Died. 

Age. 

Lengtl 

of 

Reign 

1066 

1087 

60 

21 

1087 

1100 

43 

13 

1100 

1135 

68 

35 

1135 

1154 

49 

19 

1154 

1189 

56 

35 

1189 

1199 

41 

10 

1199 

1216 

49 

17 

1216 

1272 

66 

56 

1272 

1307 

67 

35 

1307 

1327 

43 

20 

1327 

1377 

65 

50 

1377 

1400 

33 

22 

1399 

1413 

46 

14 

1413 

1422 

34 

9 

1422 

1471 

49 

39 

1461 

1483 

42 

22 

1483 

1483 

11 

0 

1483 

1485 

42 

2 

1485 

1509 

52 

24 

1509 

1547 

55 

38 

1547 

1553 

16 

6 

1553 

1558 

42 

5 

1558 

1603 

69 

45 

1603 

1625 

58 

22 

1625 

1649 

48 

24 

1660 

1685 

54 

25 

1685 

1702 

67 

3 

1688 \ 

1702 

51 

13 

l 

1694 

32 

6 

1702 

1714 

49 

12 

1714 

1727 

67 

13 

1727 

1760 

77 

33 

1760 

1820 

82 

60 

1820 

1830 

68 

10 

1830 

1837 

72 

7 


1837 whom god preserve, 


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